Wildlife group calls for deer to be removed from Phoenix Park

Fiona Frawley

The herd of 600 deer is one of the most beloved aspects of Phoenix Park, but some believe they are negatively impacting the habitat.

An argument has been made to remove the deer from Phoenix Park, in a blog on the Irish Wildlife Trust.

Author Pádraic Fogarty has cited a negative impact on the park’s biodiversity and the fact that the deer aren’t native to the Park as reasons why their potential removal could be beneficial.

In the blog, Pádraic discusses concerns he’s had previously over the biodiversity at Phoenix Park:

“I bemoan the intensive level of management by the Office of Public Works which minimises it’s biodiversity value: dead or fallen trees cleared away, poor management of woodland areas and a continued emphasis on replanting non-native trees. I also criticised the very low diversity of flowers in the expansive meadows which in turn leads to nearly no flying insects, even in high summer”.

He adds that he had suggested seeding the grasslands with native wildflowers to Park management, but they concluded “there would be no point in doing this as the deer would eat them”.

fallow deer at phoenix park

Fallow deer at Phoenix Park, image via Shutterstock

The deer were originally brought from Britain in the 1600s by the Duke of Ormond for his hunting pleasure. Their original range was around the Mediterranean basin and present-day Turkey but they were introduced across Western Europe by the Romans and later in the Middle Ages to populate royal hunting parks, including in Ireland and Britain.

Far from being an important part of our biodiversity the deer are, in fact, a major pressure on it and are holding the Park back from reaching its potential. I think it’s now time to get rid of them.

While acknowledging that the deer are immensely popular and beloved by many, Pádraic says people may not realise the negative impact they have on the Park:

“They are the reason you can’t walk on a summer’s day through a flower rich meadow humming with bees, grasshoppers and butterflies. They are, at least partly, the reason why there is no new native woodland in the Park. They are the reason why the Park is surprisingly poor for nesting song birds (too much grazing means too little scrub meaning to few nesting places)”.

The deer are hugely popular among park visitors.

He added that we may not need to get rid of the deer altogether, but that “it is clear that 600 is too high a number”. He suggested that the Park could support a small herd of native red deer instead of the alien fallow.

A public consultation on deer management in Ireland is open until February 10th, and can be viewed HERE.

Header image via Shutterstock