Sniper hired to take out 200 Phoenix Park deer

THE Office of Public Works hired a sniper to kill more than 200 deer in the Phoenix Park in the past two years.

A meat supplier bought the carcasses for €19,488 and sold the meat on to butchers and several supermarkets.

The 203 deer were shot by the marksman as part of eight culls carried out in 2016 and 2017.

A further 57 of the animals were killed as a result of road accidents and natural causes during the same period.

The OPW said that the Phoenix Park remained open to the public while the culls were performed by a 68-year-old sniper from Bray, Co. Wicklow.

However, it said that a ‘detailed protocol’ was followed, which took account of the welfare of the deer and the safety of the public.

The carcasses of the culled deer were sold for an average of €96 each to a Wicklow-based meat supplier.

‘An over-abundant deer population can result in increasing incidence of road traffic accidents and increase the potential role for deer in the epidemiology of specific diseases,’ an OPW spokeswoman said.

A cull of 38 female and 11 male deer over two days in January and February 2017 reduced the herd to 540, compared with 570 recorded in October 2016.

A further two culls were carried out in November 2017, during which an additional 43 deer were killed.

In total, 111 deer were shot during four culls carried out during 2016, while 92 deer were culled over four days last year.

The figures, which were released under the Freedom of Information Act, also show that 38 deer were killed as a result of road accidents and other causes in 2016, while 19 died in this manner last year. A spokesperson for the OPW said that the causes of these deaths included traffic accidents, injuries sustained during the ‘rutting’ season, and other causes.