Feral deer could become Australia's next feral pig problem, report warns
An unpublished Australian government report shows the country is failing to halt the spread of feral deer. Only South Australia, which launched an eradication program in 2022, is succeeding.
Feral deer numbers and territory in Australia have continued to grow, according to an unpublished government report assessing the national feral deer action plan for 2020–2025. The report, which was leaked to the press, was produced by the National Vertebrate Pest Coordinators. It describes deer as one of the country's most rapidly increasing invasive pests, costing more than A$91 million a year in lost production and management time.
Most states receive poor marks
The report grades four categories using a traffic light system, and only South Australia received green in all of them. The state launched an ambitious eradication plan in 2022, and the report finds, with high confidence, that deer abundance, distribution and environmental and agricultural impacts have decreased there. New South Wales and Tasmania received red in all four categories, while Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory each received three reds and one yellow.
Six feral deer species are established in Australia: chital, fallow, hog, red, rusa and sambar. Densities are highest in the south-east.
Expert assessments
Prof Euan Ritchie of Deakin University, president of the Australian Mammal Society, said governments are not investing enough. He pointed to impacts on agriculture, native wildlife, the environment, road safety and culturally significant sites.
Reece Pianta of the Invasive Species Council described the report as evidence of long-term systemic underfunding of deer control. He warned deer could become the next feral pig, but said early intervention could still contain or even reverse their spread. In his view, deer probably cannot be eradicated from the whole continent, but eradication is possible in some states.
Prof Andrew Lowe, director of the Adelaide University Environment Institute, said annual agricultural damage in South Australia was estimated at A$36 million and projected to reach A$241 million by 2031. Since a A$4 million eradication program began, deer numbers have fallen sharply, but animals are retreating to urban fringes where culling is more costly. Functional eradication would need about another A$10 million over ten years.
