VENISON FROM poached deer in the west of Ireland is being illegally exported to Scotland and from there to the continent, the chairman of the Irish Deer Society in Connacht has claimed.
Paul Wood, deer manager at Screebe House in Connemara, said poaching had reached “epidemic proportions” and was endangering the fragile red deer population in the west.
“Illegal poaching at night has always been a problem. Poachers drive into deer habitat and dazzle the deer with high-powered lights before shooting them from the window of their car. However, normally the deer that are poached are the big trophy stags, which are shot for their antlers. I normally find these deer with their heads removed and the rest of the body abandoned where they are shot.
“Over the past year this pattern has changed dramatically. Whereas before we had a small number of stags poached, this year the poaching has reached epidemic proportions,” said Mr Wood. “There is no discernment between stag, hind or calf. All these poachers are after is the animal’s flesh, which will be traded with unscrupulous game dealers for cash.
“In many cases these deer will be illegally exported to Scotland and then on to the continent. Venison is now fetching record prices and this has caused morally deficient poachers to massacre the fragile red deer population of Connemara in order to supplement their lower levels of income caused by the recession.”
Mr Wood said it may be argued in these tough times one should be entitled to harvest the countryside’s natural resources for profit. “But as Connemara’s main industry is tourism, I contend these deer are more valuable alive than as victims of short-term profiteering by a very few.”
He said it had taken 15 years to reintroduce red deer to Connemara, and it would be a shame if they were wiped out in a year.