Danish deer parks seek exemptions to keep invasive sika deer

More than 10 deer parks across Denmark have applied for permission to keep their sika deer behind fences, DR reports. The parks, including those in Holbæk, Vordingborg and Vejle, face requirements to prevent the animals from breeding and escaping after the sika deer was added to the EU’s list of unwanted invasive species last year.

In many parks, male sika deer must be shot to prevent new calves from being born. The remaining females may then be allowed to die naturally.

“From an argumentative point of view, we think it is a little strange that they should be removed when, as far as I know, they have not been seen hybridising with other deer in Denmark,” said Stefan Skov, a nature manager at Vordingborg Deer Park.

Sika deer can hybridise with red deer, and such hybrids have been recorded in Scotland and Ireland. The risk of crossbreeding, as well as competition for food with other species, is among the main reasons for the animal’s invasive status.

There has also been concern in Denmark that sika deer could weaken the population of native red deer. However, a new study that has not yet undergone peer review recently found that such crossbreeding does not appear to occur in Denmark.

Denmark has adopted a more lenient approach than the EU listing requires. Last year, the then minister for the green tripartite agreement, Jeppe Bruus, said owners could keep fenced-in sika deer until they died naturally, provided they ensured the animals could not breed or escape.

The study has not changed the position of Nature and Animal Welfare Minister Christian Rabjerg Madsen. Pernille Stenum of Vejle Deer Park said she did not understand why the park was affected by concerns about hybrids when it kept only sika deer and fallow deer.

“We have no problems, including with them escaping, and we monitor them daily,” she said.

Morten Elmeros, a senior adviser at Aarhus University who has advised the Agency for Green Land Transformation and Water Environment on sika deer, said Denmark’s approach was based on the precautionary principle.

He told DR News that removing sika deer would eliminate any risk because crossbreeding with red deer would be an “irreversible process” once it occurred.

The parks’ applications were submitted jointly by Niels Tommerup, a professor at the University of Copenhagen, who is also among the people behind the new study. The applicants argue that sika deer, which were brought to Denmark and released for hunting in the early 1900s, are part of the country’s natural heritage and help parks teach visitors about biodiversity.

The Agency for Green Land Transformation and Water Environment confirmed to DR News that it had received the applications. The agency said it was processing the request and could not comment on the specific case, adding that exemptions under the regulation were generally very restricted.