THE NATIONAL Parks and Wildlife Service has stepped up night patrols after the discovery of a beheaded red stag, a protected animal, in the Killarney area at the weekend.
The discovery of the stag near Loo Bridge is the fifth wild deer carcass to have been found in the area in recent weeks. Most of those found have been Sika deer.
However, a sixth deer, a young red stag, had to be put down by wildlife rangers after it was found with multiple bullet holes.
The hunting of red stags is prohibited in Kerry. Licensed hunters have called for greater controls and greater checks. The Kerry Deer Society, credited with bringing native red deer back from the edge of extinction, says it has been told by stalkers that red deer numbers outside Killarney National Park are well down.
The society is calling for a proper deer census so the extent of poaching can be ascertained. It is also warning of a public danger posed by untrained marksmen with high-powered rifles.
Parks and wildlife service regional manager Pat Dawson said it was following “a certain line of inquiry” in relation to the slaughter of the red stag and was awaiting forensic results.
Night patrols were a feature of this time of year, up to and after the rutting or mating season, when the deer were on lower ground and were most vulnerable, he said. These had now been stepped up in the wider Kerry-Cork region.
Kerry Deer Society chairman Noel Grimes said those poaching were poor marksmen. The wounded stag which had to be put down had received bullets in its neck, shoulder and hind legs.
Bullets travelled long distances and there was “a real threat to person and to property”.
“They tell us the number of reds especially are way down in regions away from the national park,” Mr Grimes said. “Trophy hunters” – poachers seeking antlers – were at work, he added, asking the public to report any activity to the Garda or wildlife rangers.