Tasmanian Legislative Council inquiry into wild fallow deer attracts stakeholders

Charlton Hunters Club president Andrew Winwood was one of the stakeholders that provided a submission into the inquiry when it held public consultation sessions at Campbell Town and Hobart last year.

A fourth public hearing is expected to be held in Hobart on February 4.

Mr Winwood, who has been president at the club for 20 years said everyone believed in a different solution to the problem but Tasmania should not look to history for help.

“We only have to look at history and what happened in New South Wales that should never be repeated. I do not know if anybody is aware of what happened when we brought New Zealand hunters in with helicopters to cull the brumbies in New South Wales national parks but what the government allowed to happen...was an absolute disgrace and I hope Tasmania would never get that publicity,”  he said.

Mr Winwood told the inquiry committee he had heard of instances where hunters had wounded brumbies during the cull and had not killed them.

“Ten days after the cull had finished they were ferrying in wounded mares and horses that had wounds to their bodies and were never going to survive and were going to sly a slow death,” he said.

Mr Winwood was supportive of the existing management strategies in place for wild fallow deer and disagreed with sentiment the system is broken.

“The system we currently have in Tasmania is not broken. We have a good system of deer management through the game management services unit,” he said.

“Our game management plans are set up to suit properties in how they want their deer to be handled. Through a permitting system and the seasons deer can be managed for farmers in Tasmania.”

Mr Winwood said wild fallow deer would always be managed properly be those who had an interest in them and that most stakeholders had their own personal view of a solution to the issue.

The inquiry was launched in response to a paper by UTAS researchers who said the wild fallow deer population would skyrocket from 40,000 to up to one million animals by 2050.