More than 700 fallow deer roaming the Tasmanian wilderness have been killed with semi-automatic firearms in the state's first large-scale aerial culling.
The number is more than double what was expected.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) confirmed on Thursday it had almost finished a three-week cull in the Wilderness World Heritage Area including the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
The aerial program spanned about 114,000 hectares of high-conservation-value wilderness.
It used thermal imaging to track deer, which were then shot by trained shooters from helicopters.
A department spokesperson said the carcasses had been left to decompose, aside from those lying near roads, waterways, or anywhere where they might pose a social, health, or environmental risk.
NRE secretary Jason Jacobi said the results were "fantastic".
"We've managed to remove 711 deer," he said.
"When you do the maths, it equates to nearly one deer every six minutes.
"We've still got a little bit of tidy-up work to do, we're demobilising the site and the team is going to remove themselves over the course of the next week."
Mr Jacobi said the "high-risk" activity had involved securing semi-automatic weapons and training staff in animal welfare issues that might arise.
"This is the first time we've conducted an aerial program in Tasmania," he said.
"To find 711 [deer] just proves this activity was well worthwhile, that we needed to take action."
Tasmanian environmentalist Bob Brown called for the cull in 2016, claiming deer would spread further, devastating rare and endangered native species as it did.
"The next stop was Cradle Mountain, so this successful cull is a stitch in time," Mr Brown said.
"The feral deer remain a threat in the Great Western Tiers, the western end of which is now riddled with deer."
Under the state's Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan, Tasmania is split into three main zones:
- a no-deer zone, where the animals will eventually be eradicated, including the Tasmanian World Heritage Wilderness Area
- a hunting area in the traditional deer region of the Midlands and Great Lakes
- a buffer zone between the two, where landholders can choose whether they want deer or not
Various hunter groups such as the Tasmanian Deer Advisory Committee have remained critical of the plan.
Chairman Andrew Winwood said he was "happy" the deer had been removed, but criticised the government for not performing the action earlier.
"Why has it taken 15 years to get to this point?" he asked.
"For years we've been asking the government to remove these deer so they didn't get to the problem levels they are now."
He said it was important the department made records of the cull public in the interests of ensuring it had been carried out in a humane way.
Mr Winwood remained suspicious of where exactly the deer had been shot, arguing that money spent on the Walls of Jerusalem made sense because of its rugged geography, but that shooting in the Central Plateau Conservation Area could have been carried out for free by hunters.
Bob Brown Foundation member and former Greens Senator Christine Milne said the project had been a success, but called on the government to do more.
"Prevention is better than cure. The Rockliff government must end the partial protection of feral deer," she said.
Agriculture Minister Jo Palmer argued the state was taking a "balanced approach" to managing the impact of wild fallow deer while maintaining them as a traditional hunting resource.
Mr Jacobi said the cull would be carried out again in May 2024.
