CLA wants tougher controls as deer population booms

THE deer population in the UK is at its highest ever level but urgent control of the deer population in Britain is needed to prevent people taking the matter into their own hands.

That is the message from the Country Land and Business Association president Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, who is calling for further control on increasing numbers.

He says: “They are certainly a dramatic presence in the countryside but are destroying some food crops and the habitat of other species, not to mention the deers’ own welfare with road accidents and over-grazing.

“There is a real risk of people taking matters into their own hands, and then we’ll have a major problem.

“Many will be inexperienced shots who may use the wrong sort of gun or aim poorly – nightmare scenarios which would lead to a slow, painful death of a deer.”

He says the CLA has recently welcomed changes in legislation that meant the controls on culling were relaxed, but further control of the population is what is needed.