Invasive sika deer are doing “untold damage” to what is left of Ireland’s native forest, an expert in rewilding has warned. 

There are currently four wild species of deer in Ireland; fallow, sika, muntjac and red - but only the last one is native. 

With no natural predators since the extinction of wolves in the 1700s, the deer population in Ireland has exploded and is putting huge pressure on other parts of the ecosystem. 

Once as much as 80% of Ireland was covered in native woodland but over the centuries this has dwindled to only 11% - and much of that is non-native sikta spruce. 

The Government has promised to increase that figure in order to cut Ireland’s carbon emissions but Eoghan Daltun, author of The Magic Of An Irish Rainforest, believes it will be difficult without culling the invasive species. 

“I think we need to get real about the deer problem,” he told The Pat Kenny Show. 

“One of the really crazy aspects of this whole conversation is that sika deer are still a protected species. 

“They’re protected under Irish law despite ticking all of the boxes that describe an invasive species.

“They’re doing untold damage to our native ecosystems.” 

Yet another of our few tiny surviving scraps of native rainforest, in the process of being annihilated by multitudes of alien invasive sika deer, a LEGALLY PROTECTED SPECIES.

Rossacroo na loo, Co. Kerry. pic.twitter.com/t3HhKLlM64

— Eoghan Daltun 🌍 (@IrishRainforest) October 18, 2024

Mr Daltun, who is also a farmer on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, said the deer population in his local area also make driving “hugely dangerous”. 

Despite this, obtaining a licence to cull them is not easy. 

“In order to shoot them, you have to fulfill a whole raft of different criteria,” Mr Daltun said. 

“Which, for example, wouldn’t apply to feral goats because they’re not protected. 

“So, we’re really hamstringing ourselves in the fight to protect what’s left of our native forests.” 

Woodland in County Meath. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Although they have been around in Ireland for centuries, Mr Daltun also said the population of feral goats need to be urgently culled. 

“They eat every tree seedling that germinates in any of the tiny pockets of natural forest that we have left,” he said. 

“That prevents the trees from regenerating, from reproducing.” 

'The most magical, wondrous places'

Ireland has one of the lowest percentages of forestry in the whole of Europe and only 0.1% of the entire island can be classified as ancient woodland. 

It is, Mr Daltun believes, that so few people get to experience what for their ancestors would have taken for granted. 

“In a healthy state, they’re the most magical, wondrous places,” he said. 

“The great shame though is that almost none of what we have left - and we’ve got so little left - is in a healthy state [because of] overgrazing. 

“Either by livestock or, more commonly, artificial numbers of wild grazers like deer.” 

The Government has set a target of increasing Ireland’s forest cover to 18% by 2027.

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Main image: Sika Deer. Picture by: Alamy.com