Hello, welcome to interview with the pest’s blog. Today we will be interviewing a species the was introduced to Australia as game animal. We will be covering why they were introduced, their ecology, impact/threats to Australia and how are they controlled. Say hello to our first pest, the feral deer.
Feral deer: Hello everyone, my name is feral deer or “deer” for short. I was introduced to Australia during the 19th century as game animal. There are currently six different species of deer residing in Australia which are Fallow, Red, Sambar, Rusa, Hog and Chital (theconversation.com, 2020).
Q: So, what is your diet like in Australia? Is there a particular habitat you like?
Feral deer: well that depends on which species of deer as we prefer different habitats from each other. I am a red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the picture below and prefer my habitat to be open grassy forest to open grassland and I feed on grass and leaves of shrubs, but I will eat bark and fruit if food is scarce (environment.gov.au, 2020).
Feral deer: we carry diseases that can affect local livestock so if disease such as bovine tuberculosis affects us enters Australia, we can pass it to livestock which can have a negative impact on the economic system (Hall & Gill, 2005). In areas high of deer numbers, we destroy native vegetation by trampling seedlings, eating them and rubbing up against them (daf.qld.gov.au, 2020).
Q: Are there any biosecurity/control measure for you?
Feral deer: farmers that want to raise deer need to follow the general biosecurity rules. Deer’s must be contained to an area where they do not spread any diseases to livestock and must prevent the deer from escaping/moving into neighbouring lands and damaging native vegetation. Deer hunting is also a measure of control to help stop the spread (pestsmart.org.au, 2020).
That is all for this interview, next time we will be covering a well-known pest species in Australia. It was introduced to help stop another pest that fed on sugar cane. Below in the references are websites that contain more information on the feral deer for reading.
References
https://theconversation.com/the-protected-pest-deer-in-australia-11452
https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69719/IPA-Fallow-Deer-Factsheet.pdf
https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/c6679b32-5f03-4839-aa57-9c5723153b0f/files/fs-feral-deer.pdf
HALL, G.P. & GILL, K.P. 2005, MANAGEMENT OF WILD DEER IN AUSTRALIA, The Wildlife Society, Oxford, UK.
https://pestsmart.org.au/pest-animal-species/deer/
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