British Deer Society Bulletin 61
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1. POSTER CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT DEER DURING THE DARK NIGHTS
Published: 11th November 2009 23:21 About my Area: Cannock
A total of 15 signs, measuring 4ft by 3ft, have been placed on roads running through and around Cannock Chase which is home to thousands of deer. One hundred smaller 'Deer Aware' posters have also been put up in the area. Countryside rangers from Staffordshire County Council and The Forestry Commission have been helped by volunteers to get the placards in place and the message is clear - Slow down, watch out and don't let your journey end here. Deer are more likely to venture towards the roads during the autumn months when it is rutting season and they are looking for a mate.
Friends of Cannock Chase and the British Deer Society are supporting the campaign which is part of a national initiative to protect the animals. An average of three deer are killed every week on Cannock Chase, but more deaths happen at this time of year.
County Councillor Mike Maryon Cabinet member for Highways and Environment, urged people to heed the warning: "It is more important than ever to be on the look out for deer during the dark autumn evenings and these posters really bring that message home. "Motorists should be particularly careful when they are driving through Cannock Chase where the animals sometimes wander into the road, particularly during the rutting season. Too many deer are being killed on our highways and it is our responsibility to drive carefully and to keep an look out for them."
The Deer Aware campaign aims to highlight the frequency of collisions involving the animals wondering onto the road and the danger that they face. Research has shown that between 42,500 and 74,000 deer are injured in vehicle collisions each year in Britain.
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2. ANIMAL DNA TESTS MAY BE BROUGHT IN TO SNARE POACHERS
Times on line 29.10.09 Hannah Devlin
Rural police forces are planning to use animal genetic tests to gather forensic evidence against poachers. The tests, which are the equivalent of those used for humans, would allow detectives to track a piece of meat from a butcher's shop back to blood in a poacher's car or to a carcass in a field. It could also help to establish the geographical origins of fish or meat.
Speaking yesterday at the National Environmental Crime Conference in London, Sibte Hadi, a forensic geneticist at the University of Central Lancashire, described tests developed by his department for roe deer and red deer that work in a similar way to human paternity tests and those used to link a suspect's DNA to a crime scene. Other research groups have developed equivalent tests for other species of deer, salmon and game birds. Police said that the techniques could improve convictions for what is an increasing problem for rural communities.
"DNA analysis has been the biggest step forward in forensics since the fingerprint," said PC Jon Palfrey, of Gloucestershire Constabulary. "As part of our investigation we have to negate a lot of poachers' claims and we need to use every tool at our disposal." PC Palfrey wants to use the technique for serious incidents, which he said were often perpetrated by professionals: "A large proportion of poaching is carried out by organised groups that are responsible for a wide range of rural crime such as the theft of scrap metal and fly-tipping."
In the past few years there has been an increase in recorded poaching incidents. There were 1,245 between October last year and the end of September, of which 27 per cent involved deer and 17 per cent fish. The rest included poaching of game birds, hare coursing and badger baiting. Last month the Home Office appointed a former detective, Gareth Cole, as the first national poaching officer to co-ordinate the investigation into crimes in different police areas. According to Mr Cole, deer poaching is the most lucrative form of the crime. About 1.5 million deer inhabit the British countryside and it is estimated that as many as 50,000 are slaughtered illegally every year. "A haunch of venison is the most expensive cut of meat on the market," Mr Cole said.
After the unlawful killing, poachers sell the carcasses illegally to butchers, restaurants or pubs, leaving the guts and other unwanted parts of the animal behind. Although the remains are often found, until now the police have had no reliable way of linking the evidence with blood found in a suspected poacher's car, raw meat in butcher's shops or food in restaurants. The DNA tests can provide the missing link. In human DNA the majority of the genome is the same for everyone, which means that comparing a section at random does not work when trying to match samples. However, there are specific sites where the genetic code varies between different individuals of the same species. By identifying these sites, DNA samples can be matched accurately. The animal DNA tests are more expensive than the human ones but scientists predict that the price would fall quickly if there was sufficient demand for the technology.
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3 THERE ARE GANGS OF COMMERCIAL POACHERS IN MOST OF RURAL BRITAIN
The Times October 29, 2009 Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor: Commentary
Any romantic view of a night-time poacher in a flat cap with a dog and a large sack to collect his one for the pot should be dispelled. Few poaching incidents these days are by the poor who need to feed a family. Money is the motive and there are gangs of commercial poachers operating in most of rural Britain. At this time of the year in the run-up to Christmas it is highly lucrative to sell off illegal venison on the black market. Venison from legal suppliers sells for £1 per lb, while a poached haunch will be offered at 50p per lb. A good night for a commercial poacher is to snatch three or four sika stags or red deer, which can weigh up to 127kg (280lb), making him as much as £140 an animal. A roe deer is just beer money.
Poachers have no concerns for human health or animal welfare. This meat is brutally obtained by setting dogs, usually lurchers, on to the deer, killing it by slitting its throat or shooting it, then cutting out the entrails. The head and guts are frequently left as a calling card on a landowner's property and the rest is dragged for yards and hidden, open to vermin, under hedgerows or in other covert spots until it can be picked up and put in a vehicle — sometimes two or three days later.
The poachers rely on rogue game dealers or direct sales at the back doors of pubs, hotels and restaurants to smuggle the meat, which has had no health checks, into the food chain. Just as DNA tests are being used to bring evidence against fraudsters who pass off standard meat as organic or farmed fish as wild, the Food Standards Agency and police are keen to use this technique to bring more cases before the courts. Officers complain that at present they raid premises and find venison haunches, but owners claim they have bought the meat legitimately. They are unable to make the link with the meat in the larder and the bloody remains of the animal. In the past year there were some 547 poaching incidents related to deer and salmon, 44 per cent of the total 1,245 recorded by police, but the convictions are tiny. There were just 72 convictions last year.
It's time to twist the lyrics of The Lincolnshire Poacher so that police get their delight on a shiny night in the season of the year.
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4 DRIVER KILLED IN CRASH WITH DEER
BBC News 07.11.09
A motorist died in a crash when two cars hit a deer on a country road in East Sussex.
The 51-year-old man, from Netherfield, who has not been named, died at the scene of the crash shortly before 1700 GMT on Friday. His Citroen Berlingo and a Vauxhall Astra hit the animal on the B2192 Lewes Road at Easons Green, near Uckfield. The condition of the Vauxhall driver, a 50-year-old woman from Heathfield, has not been disclosed. Sussex Police have asked for witnesses to contact them.
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5 NATIONAL TREE WEEK - 25 NOVEMBER - 6 DECEMBER 2009
Every year around 250,000 people are motivated to plant more than a million trees through a series of events organised up and down the country to celebrate National Tree Week. Officially starting the winter tree-planting season, this programme has been taking place since 1975 and offers communities the opportunity to get involved with their local environment. Events are organised by Tree Council members, schools, community groups, tree wardens and many others and are guaranteed to be fun, inspiring ...and a little bit dirty! You can organise your own event - find out more at www.treecouncil.org.uk.
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6 CRACKDOWN ON DEER HUNTERS IN SOUTH LAKES
North West Evening Mail 13:27, Tuesday, 03 November 2009
DEER poachers are being warned to keep looking over their shoulders as a crackdown on wildlife crime begins. In response to a large number of reports that deer have been taken, Cumbria police have started a series of night-time operations targeting poachers. Police receive between 25 to 30 reports of wildlife crime every month across the county and half of these reports relate to brutal deer killings.
Poaching has become big business for criminals and the British Deer Society estimates 50,000 deer are killed illegally every year. South Lakeland is home to the ancient Furness herd of red deer, attracting poachers from across the country. South Cumbrian wildlife officers, with the support of South Cumbria Deer Management Group, members of the public, local gamekeepers and landowners, launched this season's Poacher Watch on Thursday (29) night. Wildlife officers from Ulverston, Millom, Ambleside, Windermere and Milnthorpe, along with more than 20 volunteers from partner agencies and members of the public, scoured local hotspot areas for poachers and carried out spot checks on any suspicious-looking vehicles. The operation was the first of many planned in the area and officers say the evening generated valuable intelligence on local and travelling poachers and rural criminals.
PC John Baldwin, a wildlife crime officer, said: "Poacher Watch has been running for several years now, but as the number of deer poaching incidents has increased, so we have been working hard with the local community to re-launch the initiative and tackle the problem. The support we receive from our communities is invaluable and has allowed us to build up a large network of supporters who volunteer to help us with the initiative. "Landowners and gamekeepers, for example, have local expertise that can benefit us immensely - and information and sightings of suspected poachers and other rural criminals are being passed frequently to police across most of South Cumbria, and into West Cumbria and North Lancashire.
"A poacher can get £150 to £200 for a large red deer carcass, which can attract large, organised crime groups who have their sights on lucrative business. "We are working hard to support our rural communities who are most affected by the problem, but poaching can also have an adverse effect on land users and the public. "The methods used to kill deer are indiscriminate and brutal.
"Lampers operate in the hours of darkness and use high-powered torches to shine into the eyes of deer to freeze them to the spot long enough for them either to be shot, or killed by dogs. "They would think nothing of shooting a pregnant deer out of season.
"We also know that poaching can lead to other rural crimes, due to the knowledge poachers build up of the area and the unsociable hours they operate in.
"We need our local communities to support us in this initiative and be confident that we are positively tackling the problem. "To do this effectively, we need them to provide us with information of any sightings of suspicious vehicles or people in their areas on 0845 33 00 247 0845 33 00 247 or report information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 0800 555 111 .
"We want poachers to be looking over their shoulders constantly and realise that if they come into Cumbria they will be caught, prosecuted and will have their dogs and vehicles seized."
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7 THE EXMOOR EMPEROR - Largest wild animal in Britain is 300lb, 9ft stag
Telegraph.co.uk 07.10.09
The annual mating season for deer is on and the wild stag has been spotted near the Devon-Somerset border. Weighing in at more than 300 lbs - and standing nearly nine feet from hoof to antler-tip - the stag has been identified by a local authority on wild deer as a "truly magnificent" example of the species.
"Red deer stags are the biggest indigenous land animal left in these islands, so it's possible that this is the largest wild animal in the country today," commented Dulverton's Peter Donnelly, who has many years' experience in deer management. "The deer on Exmoor are larger than the ones in Scotland because of their diet and this is a very fine beast. He's so big and powerful," said Mr Donnelly. "He should be encouraged to breed - under no circumstances should anyone try to hunt or shoot him," added Mr Donnelly. "He's not 'going back' as we call it; he's not getting past it and he's a truly wild animal, not a 'park' stag. "This stag is absolutely in his prime and should be left alone and in peace to have nookie with as many hinds as he can."
Not that the Emperor will be getting much peace during the next few weeks of the annual rut, when stags vie with one another for the attentions of breeding hinds.
But the real danger comes from trophy hunters, who may wish to bag Britain's biggest beast. In recent weeks two large Exmoor stags have been shot on land owned by fashion and restaurant mogul Richard Caring, who is offering a cash reward of £15,000 for information that may lead to an arrest.
Photographer Richard Austin is keeping the Emperor's location secret. "I've been lucky in getting close to a herd on the fringes of Exmoor where this huge stag has gathered up about 25 hinds. I counted four other stags in the same field and I thought - this is it, this is going to be the best chance I've had in 25 years of photographing stags locking antlers...'
"But the big stag paraded around and none of the other stags seemed brave enough to take him on."
Mr Donnelly said: "I'm not surprised. He seems to be saying I really am King of the Jungle."
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9 WHY THE RED DEER FAILED TO RUT
The Guardian, Tuesday 10 November 2009 David Adam
There has been no deer rut in the New Forest this autumn. For centuries, the autumnal red deer rut has been one of the stunning sights of the British countryside. The annual event sees giant stags chase rivals, bellow warnings and lock horns in a fight for supremacy. To the winners, the female spoils. To the losers, the consolation that they may appear in a nice photograph.
According to the website of the New Forest, which has some of the most established red deer herds in England, "Early on autumnal mornings, during the annual red deer rut, testosterone-charged stags with thickened manes make a fearsome sight as, muscles rippling, flanks caked in mud, breath billowing white against the dark heather, they roar their welcome to the dawn." Enough, you might think, to make anyone grab their digital SLR camera and head for the forest. Unfortunately, the only flanks caked with mud at the New Forest rut this season have been those of the eager deer-spotters. For the first time that anyone can remember, this year there has been no deer rut.
Ian Young, a New Forest keeper, says there have been too many people hanging around with cameras. He blames well-meaning programmes such as the BBC's Autumnwatch and wildlife websites that alert the public to the arrival of a stag. "We had one stag who walked all the way here from Bournemouth and as soon as he got here he was surrounded by 29 people with cameras. There are so many people coming now that they disturb the animals." Local farmers who shoot stags when they wander on to private land are also to blame, he says. One stag arrived last week. "The next day we had 50 or 60 people here. They came from Bristol, Devon and Cornwall after they read about him on a website." With no rival to fight, the stag wandered off again.
When the Guardian discovered the rut was in doubt several weeks ago, the Foresty Commission, which runs the site, was desperate to avoid extra publicity. "The last thing we need is a bunch of film crews coming down to make the situation worse," a spokesperson said at the time. The rut season is now effectively finished.
The failure of the rut does not threaten the herd, Young says. Deer will still breed, though it is more likely to be younger males, which do not rut. "There is too much public pressure on them, so they will do it at night."
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10 TESTING FOR LYME DISEASE
CMO Update Autumn 2009 Issue 49
(A communication to all doctors in England form the Chief Medical Officer)
Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the bite of an infected tick, is the most significant vector-borne infection in the United Kingdom and continues to receive media attention. Cases occur predominantly during the late spring, early summer and autumn, during peak tick feeding season. High-risk areas for Lyme disease in the United Kingdom are the New Forest, Exmoor, woodland or heathland areas of southern England, the Lake District, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, the North York Moors, Thetford Forest and the South Downs. At least 15% to 20% of laboratory-confirmed infections are acquired abroad.
The Department of Health remains concerned about the growing number of patients, particularly those suffering from chronic conditions such as myalgic encephalopathy (ME) or chronic fatigue syndrome, who receive a false diagnosis of Lyme disease from private laboratories offering unvalidated tests that lack the sensitivity and specificity to detect B. burgdorferi. A report of the Department's investigation into the use of such tests in the diagnosis of Lyme disease is available at www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/13/ 89/17/04138917.pdf
Misinformation about Lyme disease is readily available to patients via the internet and can lead them to seek inappropriate diagnosis and treatment.
Comprehensive guidelines for clinicians on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease are published on the Health Protection Agency's (HPA) website. The HPA's Lyme Borreliosis Specialist Reference Unit in Southampton provides validated tests for the NHS that comply with internationally agreed criteria for the detection of
B. burgdorferi. Those claiming to have 'chronic Lyme disease' or who believe it to be the cause of their chronic condition can be diagnosed definitively through using the HPA's tests.
Lyme disease is usually treated effectively by a short course of antibiotics; however, in a small number of cases, if left undiagnosed for a long period, Lyme disease can be difficult to treat. There is no biological evidence of symptomatic chronic Lyme disease amongst those who have received the recommended treatment regimen. Clinicians can contact the HPA's Lyme Borreliosis Specialist Reference Unit to discuss the diagnosis of patients with difficult clinical presentations:
HPA Lyme Borreliosis Specialist Reference Unit, Southampton Laboratory Level B, South Laboratory Block,
Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD Tel: 023 8079 6408 023 8079 6408
Policy contact: For more information: www.nathnac.org (advice on lyme disease for travellers and health professionals) www.hpa.org.uk/webw/hPAweb&Page&hPAwebAutolistname/Page/1191942149546?p=1191942149546
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11 DEER MANAGEMENT 2010 CONFERENCE 12//13 March 2010
organised by The Deer Initiative Partnership
The Deer Initiative Conference 2010 will examine the current and future key issues and challenges in wild deer management in 2010 and will bring together leading world experts to look at innovative ways to address issues such as urban deer, deer vehicle collisions, poaching and the impacts on biodiversity. Sustainable wild deer management plays an essential part in the maintenance of the woodlands and other habitats that make the British countryside so special. By working on a landscape scale with landowners and land managers, we can help ensure that wild deer populations are healthy and sustainable, that they contribute to everyone's enjoyment of the countryside and to the economy of our rural areas, and that their negative impacts on issues as wide-ranging as biodiversity and road safety are kept to a minimum.
More info and booking forms on the Deer Initiative website at
http://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/html/conference2010.htm
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12 DEER DIES AFTER FIGHTING BACKYARD CONCRETE ELK
Short News.com 11/11/2009 08:50 AM
In rural Viroqua, Wisconsin, a 640-pound elk statue made out of concrete was damaged last week when it was attacked by a love-struck seven-point buck trying to assert his dominance, who fared even worse - he staggered about 20 feet away and died. Owner Mark Brye said that when he saw the toppled statue, he knew the cause right away. "The statue is OK, but the antlers broke off when it tipped over. "The impact from ramming the statue caused a shattered skull and antlers dangling from its head. Brye said that he may remember the event by gluing the buck's antlers to the statue, but will first have to get help to stand it back up again. A conservation warden tagged the buck for Brye, writing: "lawn ornament fight - lost."
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