A RECENTLY released report into pest animal management in NSW suggests deer be 'recognised as the most important emerging pest animal threat'.
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The Natural Resource Commission report says that deer are currently managed under outdated, restrictive arrangements as a game and livestock animal.
Manager Biosercuity and Emergency Services and coordinator of the Hastings Wild Deer Working Group Jo McGoldrick said a 2015 community survey identified as many as seven local key locations for the animal.
"Wild deer populations have been located in patches up and down the North Coast and certainly in the Hastings," she said. "These seven key local precincts include Lake Cathie, Lake Innes Drive, Bonny Hills, Greenmeadows, Westport, Thrumster and Innes Peninsula and were identified through information including impacts.
These impacts were primarily traffic hazards or being found on residential and rural properties.
Ms McGoldrick said the state government tasked the natural resources commission to review the wild deer issue. The pest animal review was released on March 31, 2016 and suggested that deer should be removed as a game animal and be declared as a pest.
While recreational hunters would continue to work with landholders, through mutual agreement, in reducing numbers, accurate population density estimates were not available because of a lack of resources.
The Hastings Wild Deer Management Strategy has been developed by North Coast Local Land Services in conjunction with the Hastings Wild Deer Working Group to improve the management of wild deer in the Port Macquarie area.
Membership of the Hastings Wild Deer Working Group includes local land managers and stakeholders.
