Next year for approximately 20 days, highly trained teams in helicopters will shoot fallow deer in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, including The Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service has received $440,000 in funding from the federal government to launch the pilot program to cull feral deer roaming in the state's national parks.
The trial, a first for Tasmania, will most likely occur in May 2023 and then again a year later in May 2024.
Jason Jacobi, deputy secretary at Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania told ABC Morning's Mel Bush that visitors and park users would be excluded during those times.
So, what impact do deer have in Tasmania and what will this pilot look like?
How big a problem are deer in Tasmania?
There are an estimated 100,000 deer in Tasmania, according to a 2021 report by the Invasive Species Council, and that number is predicted to exceed 1 million by 2050 if no action is taken.
Tiana Pirtle of the Invasive Species Council said that fallow deer are "causing a massive amount of damage to the environment".
The introduced species are also a significant problem for farmers and forestry and "pose a major, potentially fatal risk to road users," she said.
Why Walls of Jerusalem?
The ecosystems in the national park area are particularly sensitive to deer, particularly after fire.
"Even very low numbers of deer can cause a lot of damage," Dr Pirtle said.
"Post fire, deer are attracted to the fresh green pick [new growth] and can compromise revegetation, potentially causing permanent changes to those ecosystems."
So, how will it work?
Helicopters will fly over the world heritage area at night, with shooters using thermal imaging technology to locate the deer.
Estimates suggest that there are about 100 deer in the target location, but Mr Jacobi says the numbers could be higher "based on feedback that we've had from other jurisdictions across Australia that have done similar work in remote areas".
He said the Central Plateau was the primary focus for this particular pilot program.
There will only be one or two helicopters flying at one time and each will carry a specialised shooter and possibly a veterinarian or someone who is "skilled at making sure that we've done a very clean job", Mr Jacobi said.
"One of the most important things is to make sure that we deal adequately with animal welfare."
Dr Pirtle is supportive of the pilot program.
"Aerial culling is one of the best tools we have for removing larger numbers of deer from the landscape, especially in more remote, rugged areas like in the World Heritage Area," she said.
The aerial shooters will be supported by trained shooters on the ground to follow up with any individuals they miss or that are hard to access from the air.
The Department is also considering supplementing its internal ground team with selected volunteer recreational shooters.
While this is a two-year trial, Mr Jacobi suggested that future culling may be a possibility.
Dr Pirtle hopes that swift action is also taken to manage other deer populations in Tasmania.
"It's really important that the government doesn't delay managing these populations while awaiting the results of this trial," she said.
Has aerial shooting worked anywhere else?
Aerial shooting programs to control deer have been successful in areas such as the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand.
In that case, more than 1,000 deer and goats were culled in local forests over two weeks.
Jordan Munn from Trap and Trigger, who ran the exercise, said shooting from helicopters using heat sensing technology allowed hunters to target animals in dense, steep terrain.
"To remove the same number of deer with ground hunters would have taken several months, but aerially we could do it in two weeks," he said.
While deer have not been completely eradicated from the area, their numbers have been reduced to a small population that are easier to manage.
As deer reproduce rapidly, Dr Munn emphasised the importance of controlling the target a population.
Who will be shooting the deer?
Specially trained staff from the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service will undertake the work.
The shooters will be highly trained, and will employ weaponry and thermal imaging equipment not usually permitted for use in Tasmania.
"We believe that we'll be hopefully conducting this program across Tasmania in the future and it's important that we have the skills and expertise internally to do that," Mr Jacobi said.
How will they be trained?
Staff will undergo an aerial shooting training program on Flinders Island, honing their skills on feral pigs.
Mr Jacobi said that fairly extensive research and monitoring of populations of feral pigs conducted on Flinders Island over the past two years has identified particular locations where the pest species is known to exist.
What about the carcasses?
The carcasses will be left where they fall.
"It will be impracticable to collect all the carcasses. They are in very remote areas of the Tasmanian wilderness," Mr Jacobi said.
"The numbers are not significant enough that it warrants any more proper clean-up operation post the shooting and we don't anticipate that that will have any detrimental environmental impact."
Dr Pirtle said the carcasses may cause a "pulse" of extra recourses for scavengers.
"But that pulse will go back to equilibrium in a couple of years," she said.
