A national plan for managing the spread of feral deer seeks to limit population numbers, geographic spread and reduce the number of accidents involving motorists and cyclists, but avoids eradication.
The draft National Feral Deer Action Plan, released in mid-December, estimates feral deer numbers across the country to be between 1-2 million, a tenfold increase over 20 years.
The draft plan seeks to better coordinate national and state culling efforts between the various authorities charged with feral deer regulation.
"Deer are in all states and territories of Australia, but they are in largest numbers in the eastern parts of Victoria and New South Wales, where they are spreading quickly," a summary of the plan said.
"In New South Wales, the six species of feral deer now inhabit 22 per cent of the state, where their distribution has spread by 35 per cent since 2016."
Six species of feral deer are established in Australia: fallow, chital, rusa, red, hog and sambar deer.
The deer were first introduced to Australia in the 1800s for hunting and farming.
They pose a serious threat not just to agriculture, biodiversity, and bushfire recovery, but also directly to humans through car, motorbike and pushbike collisions.
Feral deer are also a major contributor to the decline of many native Australian species.
Containing deer migration
South Australian-based plan coordinator Annelise Wiebkin said a key aim was to contain existing large deer populations, while at the same time reducing or eradicating small, isolated populations before they spread.
"It also prioritises the need to protect significant sites that we have got from the impact of feral deer, including some of the World Heritage areas we have got around wetlands," Dr Wiebkin said.
"The plan really calls for better coordination of deer control efforts across land tenures and across boundaries."
Focus on peri-urban areas
A large focus of the plan is on controlling feral deer populations in peri-urban areas, those suburbs on the outskirts of big cities or regional centres interact with the bush.
Dr Wiebkin said that due to their size, deer can be a problem in built-up areas.
"A really big challenge is that peri-urban area where we have lots of small blocks, [where there are] people and safety concerns and roads," she said.
"And certainly I think in peri-urban and urban areas really careful trapping and shooting on the ground is going to be the way to go."
For decades, feral Rusa deer emanating from the Royal National Park on the southern boundary of Sydney have encroached on neighbouring communities in the Sutherland Shire and northern Illawarra.
It is not uncommon to see large numbers of mature deer wandering the streets in these areas.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) hopes to vastly step up its deer eradication programs within the park.
Head of NSW NPWS, Atticus Fleming said that over the past 18 months more than 250 deer were removed from the park.
"What you are seeing is a real increase in our operations across the Royal and an attempt to really bring those numbers down," he said.
"If we don't control the deer now the numbers will increase and the damage becomes irreversible."
Feral animals drive extinctions
Mr Fleming said that feral deer were just one of many introduced animals causing havoc across New South Wales' national parks.
"Across the state it's probably 7,000 or 8,000 deer that we have removed and well over 50,000 animals in total including goats, pigs, foxes and other things," he said.
"A lot of Australians don't know we have got the worst mammal extinction rate in the world and one of the factors that has been a big driver is the impact of feral animals.
"If we are going to turn around the decline in Australia's wildlife we need to be taking action against feral animals on a really big scale.
"We have had 200 years where things have been heading in the wrong direction. We won't turn it around overnight [but] with a bit of luck we can turn it around fairly quickly if we can put in the effort consistently."
The draft National Feral Deer Action Plan is open for public comment until March 20, 2023.
