Tayside Police and the Deer Commission for Scotland have defended the decision to shoot a roe deer that had set up home in a Dundee cemetery, saying it was the most humane option.
The buck, which had become a regular sight at Roodyard’s Burial Ground on the Broughty Ferry Road, was shot by a deer dispatcher acting on the advice of police on Saturday morning.
Attempts to kill the beast, which is believed to have been five or six years old, began last Tuesday after the owners of adjacent motorcycling business Scotriders got in touch concerned that it could potentially cause a serious accident.
After the first attempt failed, wildlife officer Sergeant Andy Carroll was adamant that shooting was the only option although a regrettable one.
“The last thing you want to do is kill a perfectly healthy beast unnecessarily,” he said.
The deer had been living in undergrowth in the back of the Scotriders premises for a number of years. From Dock Street up to the graveyard there is no fence, just raised ground, so there was nothing to prevent the deer running into the business grounds or on to the carriageway.
Mr Carroll said, “The lady who runs Scotriders has lived with the deer for a good few years now, but got in touch with the police because it was presenting a hazard to the motorcyclists and motorists.
“This year it has become a lot more active and has been trying to get out into the road and on to Dock Street.
“If the deer runs out into the road, with four lanes of traffic at rush hour there could be a serious accident there, not necessarily from it being hit but from somebody swerving to avoid it.”
When the police were first contacted by Scotriders, Mr Carroll along with a representative of an animal welfare charity and a couple of deerstalkers from the Scottish Deer Centre at Cupar weighed up all the options.
The normally docile deer was being driven out of its normal routine by its search for a mate.
The first option of leaving it to itself was quickly ruled out because of “the danger to public safety.”
The second option of catching the deer to release somewhere else was also abandoned as its antlers would pose too much of a risk to its captors. They also feared that the animal would break a leg in any pursuit and would have to be shot anyway.
Thoughts of tranquillising the animal were also discarded. After assessing the environment it was decided the deer could only be shot from one direction, in case cartridges missed and were lost in the long grass.
Sergeant Carroll said, “The tranquilliser is powerful stuff it could kill a man in three minutes.
“When an animal has been tranquillised you can only release it in a wildlife centre because if it’s in the wild and gets shot by a deerstalker then he can take it to the butchers and have immobilum in his venison steaks.
“Also if you’re catching and releasing it then you’ve got to release it within 1km because roe deer have a very, very strong heffering instinct.
“The deer can’t cope with it and within a couple of days it would find its way back down there. It would be like a drunk getting off a train in Dundee when he lives in Glasgow.”
After it was decided that capture and release would be too traumatic an ordeal, the police came to the conclusion that shooting the buck was the most humane option, a decision supported by deer officer Jamie Hammond of the Deer Commission for Scotland.
He explained that tranquillising a roe deer was not as simple as it would be on a larger red deer.
He said, “Roe deer are only small and the dart going into them can actually damage them, breaking bone and tissue. In 40-50% of cases they die through the stress of trying to dart them.
“Even if you do it successfully and move them because they are so territorial it can have very serious welfare implications for them if they are released into another deer’s territory, particularly now during the mating season.”
Because of the physical makeup of roe deer, Mr Hammond said the harsh reality is that lethal control of urban deer is the preferred option as it saves the animal from the emotional stress of being pursued.
However, the shooting prompted outrage amongst the residents of neighbouring Ellengowan Drive.
Val Bell who lives opposite the cemetery said, “I heard the rifle shot and I was really upset. I called the police and they confirmed he had been shot.
“You’d see him nearly every day just a lovely little deer. I’ve been upset about this all weekend.”
Ultimately the final decision lay with the landowners Scotriders, who were unavailable for comment on Monday night.
Sergeant Carroll said, “I want to assure people we did everything we could to find a final solution for this deer that did not involve shooting it.
“With it being a public safety issue the circumstances were such that that was the only option left open for me to recommend.”