+ Feral Deer Information

Currently, four species of deer have formed feral populations in Queensland. Additional species have the potential to naturalise if they are imported and released. There is a considerable body of evidence, primarily from overseas sources, indicating that large deer populations have significant agricultural, environmental and social impacts. These include:

• competing with livestock for pasture
• carrying pests and diseases that can a effect livestock
• damaging crops
• grazing of certain native plants, causing changes to floristic composition and structure
• crossing roads and causing motor vehicle accidents
• damaging reforestation, landscaping, gardens and parks.

There is anecdotal evidence that deer abundance is increasing in Queensland. Although the exact rate of population increase has not been accurately quantified, if populations are allowed to expand, the total impact of feral deer in Queensland will increase accordingly.

In response to growing community concern over the apparent increase in deer abundance and potential impact, all feral deer were declared as Class 2 or Class 3 pests, and deer not yet in the wild in Queensland were declared as Class 1 pests, under the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002, in May 2009.

Under current legislation, all landholders (including the state government) are responsible for the control of Class 2 feral deer on lands that they manage. Also, landholders in or adjacent to environmentally significant areas may have a responsibility to control Class 3 species if directed by a local government.

+ Risk To Production

Reports indicate that feral deer damage young trees, pasture, fruit and vegetable crops and fences, and foul water (Lindeman & Forsyth 2008).

In Queensland, damage to forestry seedlings, agricultural and horticultural crops, commercial flower crops, orchards, irrigation systems and fences has been reported. In orchards, feral deer sometimes selectively consume new growth and ringbark trees, leading to reduced orchard viability. In dry seasons, feral deer can compete with cattle for pasture and supplementary feed.

+ Social Amenity And Human Safety

Feral deer cause damage to public parks and private gardens. Due to their size, they also have the potential to cause serious traffic accidents. There are several areas in Queensland where feral deer regularly pose a traffic hazard. Residents have reported numerous collisions and near misses and some major roads have been closed to remove deer. Peri-urban residents are occasionally frightened by deer moving through their backyards.

Stags in rut can be aggressive. There have been reports of animals being seriously gored by rutting stags in Queensland.

+ Environment

There is a body of evidence, from Australia and overseas, indicating that feral deer can damage the natural environment. Negative impacts reported include consumption of native vegetation, damage to trees, dispersal of weed seeds and fouling of water.

Negative impacts include defoliation (young and/or old leaves), removal of shoots, bark stripping and destruction or consumption of plant reproductive material, which could cause a reduction in plant population viability (Keith & Pellow 2005). In the Royal National Park (New South Wales), Rusa deer cause localised soil erosion and varying degrees of impact on 69 different plant species. Similarly, in Queensland, feral deer eat bunya nuts (Araucaria bidwillii) and pose a threat to bunya seedling recruitment (Smith 2011, pers. comm., Smith et al. 2007). In Victoria, feral deer are considered a major threat to the endangered shiny nematolepis plant, Nematolepis wilsonii (Murphy et al. 2006). In East Gippsland (Victoria), sambar damage native plants by browsing, rubbing their antlers on plants and consuming particular plant species. Their grazing is believed to have caused the removal of certain plant species with flow-on effects to local plant community structure and floristic composition. Most importantly, prolonged grazing appears to have caused widespread prevention of plant regeneration, with the potential for loss of entire plant communities in some areas (Peel et al. 2005).

Research has confirmed a degree of dietary overlap between deer and macropods (Hamilton 1981; Moriarty 2004). However, the degree to which feral deer a ect macropod populations is unknown.

The New South Wales Scientific Committee (Adam 2004) reviewed literature on the environmental impacts of feral deer and concluded that feral deer could threaten species, populations and ecological communities. Also, herbivory and environmental degradation caused by feral deer was listed as a key threatening process in Schedule 3 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW).

+ Disease Risk

Like other feral animals (such as pigs), feral deer pose a risk to Queensland’s livestock industries and human health, by either carrying or amplifying endemic and exotic diseases.

Feral deer in Queensland are known to carry cattle ticks (McKenzie et al. 1985; Cutulle et al. 2009) and may carry them into tick-free areas, transferring them to cattle. Similarly, antibodies to leptospirosis are widespread in feral deer in Queensland (Presidente & Westbury 1984) and feral animals are recognised as reservoir species for leptospirosis (Levett 2001). People could contract leptospirosis through direct contact with the urine of infected animals such as feral pigs or feral deer (Levett 2001).

Bovine Johne’s disease is a production disease of cattle that has a very low prevalence in Queensland. However, it can spread between domestic and wild ruminants (Stevenson et al. 2009).

The Australian veterinary emergency plan (AUSVETPLAN) has been developed to manage exotic disease outbreaks. The plan lists feral deer as being susceptible to a range of exotic diseases including Aujeszky’s disease, surra, brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, foot-and-mouth disease, rabies and bluetongue. If there was an outbreak of exotic disease, feral deer in an infected area would require epidemiological assessment in line with AUSVETPLAN (Animal Health Australia 2010).

Legislation States:

All feral deer are declared pest animals under the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002 (the Act). There are three classes of declared pests:

• Class 1 declared pests—Deer that are declared Class 1 pests are not known to occur in the wild in Queensland. They are subject to eradication if found in Queensland. These deer species cannot be kept without a declared pest permit issued by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). It is a serious offence to introduce, keep (without a permit) or supply a Class 1 pest. It is also a serious offence to release a Class 1 animal into the environment; the maximum penalty is $88 000. Class 1 declared deer include:

  • Hog deer (Axis porcinus)
  • Sambar (Cervus unicolor or Rusa unicolor)
  • all other species of deer except for Class 2 and Class 3 declared deer.

• Class 2 declared pests—It is an offence to introduce, keep, feed, supply or release Class 2 pest animals without a permit issued by DAFF. (However, this excludes owned deer confined within a deer-proof enclosure.) Landowners must take reasonable steps to keep land free of deer that are declared Class 2 pests. Class 2 declared deer include:

  • feral Rusa deer (Cervus timorensis or Rusa timorensis)
  • feral Chital or Axis deer (Axis axis).

• Class 3 declared pests—It is an offence to introduce, feed, supply or release Class 3 pest animals without a permit issued by DAFF. (However, this excludes owned deer confined within a deer-proof enclosure.) Landholders in or adjacent to an environmentally significant area as defined under section 78(8) of the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002 may be required to control Class 3 pests. Class 3 declared deer include:

  • feral red deer (Cervus elaphus)

  • feral fallow deer (Dama dama).

    Local governments are empowered under section 78 of the Act to issue a noncomplying landholder with a notice to control feral deer. A notice can be issued for Class 2 feral deer (Rusa deer and chital) when the landholder is not taking reasonable steps to control the feral deer.

    A notice can be issued for Class 3 feral deer (red and fallow deer) when the local government reasonably believes that the feral deer are impacting or have the potential to impact on an environmentally significant area or land adjacent to an environmentally significant area.

    The maximum penalty for not complying with this notice is $44 000 (Class 2 feral deer) or $22 000 (Class 3 feral deer). The Act also provides for penalties for the feeding or release of feral deer.

    It is proposed that feral deer will be ‘restricted’ pests under the Biosecurity Bill currently being developed. Subordinate legislation such as a code of practice may be developed to de ne feral deer management obligations.

    Under current legislation, all landholders (including the state government) are responsible for the control of Class 2 feral deer (Chital and Rusa deer) on lands that they manage.

The Class 3 declaration of feral red and fallow deer allows local government to issue a notice to landholders for the control of these species in circumstances where numbers are impacting on an environmentally significant area.

Many landholders will not have an obligation to control feral red and fallow deer, but the Class 3 declaration allows the prompt removal of recently established populations or populations that threaten environmentally significant areas.

Landholders in or adjacent to environmentally significant areas are encouraged to proactively keep populations of Class 3 feral deer in check so that they do not impact on environmentally significant areas.