Cull the deer and say no to bringing back the wolves says Falcarragh councillor

Road traffic accidents involving deer present a major problem on the highways and byways of Donegal, it has been claimed

But independent Falcarragh councillor, Michael McClafferty is against the idea of allowing wolves back into the wild to deal with them, he believes the council should do it instead.

He introduced a motion at Monday's meeting of Donegal County Council calling on the council to organise a deer culling policy for the county to cut the deer numbers down "in a humane way in the interests of road safety and to prevent the destruction of crops".

He added it is also very important that the proposal which has been mooted referencing the introduction of wolf packs back into rural Ireland to contain the deer population does not proceed in the interest of public safety.

He added there were problems with deer no matter where one lived in Donegal.

"You can find them up and down the back roads, on the main roads and in different places. We need a policy to get the deer numbers down."

He said they also had to get the talk of introducing wolves back blocked.

"Children won't be safe, walkers won't be safe, farmers will have no peace and calves or sheep won't be safe. It's not a good idea."

Cllr McClafferty said a lot of cars had been damaged by deer in the Glenties Municipal District.

"There was one badly smashed last week outside near the graveyard near Ards forest outside Creeslough. The driver told me the only reason he survived was due to the fact he was driving a jeep. If it was a smaller car he said the deer would have been in on top of him. This happens here regularly."

He added there was the extra problem of who to claim off when something like this happened.

"No one wants to take responsibility. Glenveagh [National Park] don't want to know. If my cow or sheep went out onto the road and you knocked it down and damaged the car they would be after us but with deer, they can do what they want. I don't think it's fair."

The motion was seconded by Cllr Anthony Molloy.

"Deers are becoming a huge hazard to our road users in our and other areas. There's been four deer killed in my area alone in the past four weeks."

He added he did not agree with the idea of wolves being introduced either to deal with the problem.

"I think we all know what will happen. Dealing with foxes is bad enough with having to deal with wolves," he said.

Cllr Michael McBride said the deer problem was definitely spreading as he knew of an incident where a deer ran out in front of a van outside Drumoghill outside Letterkenny.

"That's a place you never of deer being in before. It shows they are spreading all over the county."

He added he knew of a case where a deer ran into and damaged a car near Glenveagh but they managed to get their car repaired by the MIBI (Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland ).

"It might be worth checking that out from the council's point of view to see if this is the case. It might be a route people can go down but this is happening all over the county," he added.

The motion was passed unanimously and it was agreed the council would write to the National Parks and Wildlife Service on this matter.