Wild stags in Kerry are being shot and decapitated so their heads and antlers can be sold as trophies, wildlife experts believe.
It is the first time wildlife service personnel have come across such incidents. The red stags in particular are at their finest after the summer and autumn feeding. Their antlers can have up to 18 points at this time of year, spanning five feet and more.
A number of headless but intact carcasses have been found in the vicinity of Killarney National Park - two within the park itself - in the past fortnight.
They include the protected red deer, Ireland's largest herd of native deer, as well as the Japanese sika deer introduced in the 19th-century.
Mr Paddy O'Sullivan, regional manager with the wildlife service and superintendent of Killarney National Park, said deer, both red and sika, were a protected species and it was against the law to shoot red deer "anywhere" in Co Kerry. Sika may be shot, but only under licence. He had not come across such a sinister development before in the Killarney National Park. Most of the shootings occurred at night. He appealed to the public to come forward with information and to report anything suspicious. Gardaí have interviewed a number of people but no arrests have been made so far and investigations are continuing.
Mr Noel Grimes, chairman of the Kerry Red Deer Society, said he believed those responsible had a market for the antlered heads as trophies.
The population of red deer in Kerry has soared to around 1,000 after determined conservation efforts begun 30 years ago when the herd was in serious decline and numbered only 170 animals.
In 1980 reds from Killarney, including a stag and hinds, were taken to the Blasket island, Inishvickillane, belonging to former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey and are said to be thriving there, their numbers having increased naturally to more than 70. At the time of the foot-and-mouth crisis, the island herd was being looked on as the repository of future stocks had the wild Killarney herd been put down.