Six species of feral deer in NSW have established wild populations.
One of the more widespread of these species is fallow deer, which have increased their distribution across NSW by 60% between 2016 and 2020. This number has increased significantly in the past few years along with the impact feral deer are having on the environment and the community. Negative impacts caused by feral deer include:
- Damage to vegetation, both native and landscaped through grazing, trampling and antler rubbing.
- Impacts on agricultural areas, such as farms experience competition with livestock, crop damage, damage to young trees in commercial forest settings and ability to spread disease and weed seeds.
- Human health and social activities through risk of vehicle accidents, affecting public amenities and recreation activities.
Port Macquarie Hastings Council have partnered with North Coast Local Land Services and the Arthur Rylah Institute to conduct activities such as:
- Monitoring the number and movements of feral deer
- Trapping and culling feral deer in strategic locations
- Studying the prevalence of different diseases with a focus on cattle respiratory diseases and diseases potentially transmissible to humans
How can the community get involved?
The North Coast Local Land Services with support from Port Macquarie Hastings Council, Landcare and local farmers have put together a series of videos to help the local community to understand the issues and how to play an active part in recording sightings to assist in management and control feral deer populations.
Feral deer - video series
Did you know?
You can install the Feral Scan app on your phone to record sightings and damage from feral deer.
This provides us with vital data which can be used to help us better understand the movements, population numbers and behaviour of feral deer which in turn will help with the control of negative impacts in the community.
Visit the Feral Scan website to learn more about installing and using the app as well as the benefits of using DeerScan including:
- Providing vital data to Port Macquarie Hastings Council which is used to monitor and facilitate control of feral deer – the better our data, the better our control efforts.
- Working together with your neighbours to undertake co-ordinated control.
- Notifying local community and landholder groups about the presence of feral deer.
