Poachers blamed for alarming death rate among deer on Crowle moors - and must be stopped
Young deer are being killed on Crowle moors at alarming rates, wildlife experts say.
Poachers are being blamed for some of the deaths of the 90 or so deer that roam around on the moors.
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CONCERN: Deer is at risk on Crowle Moors
The issue of the welfare of the wild animals was raised at a Crowle and Ealand Town Council meeting by Crowle resident John Carney.
Mr Carney said he was concerned about the area of the moors which had been fenced off by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.
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"What's going on is atrocious," he said.
"Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has put fences up to stop the herd from roaming.
"There have also been poachers down there one hour before dawn and an hour after dusk, shooting the wild deer.
"They're decimating the herd. They're being chased from pillar to post.
"Unfortunately the fawns are unable to jump the fence when mothers are fleeing hunters' guns and are often found dead day after day, hanging by their hind legs on the barbed wire and nobody is doing anything about it."
Mr Carney said a high tower, located on land on Will Pitts Road, Crowle was being used by poachers as a shooting range for the deer.
Dave Bromwich, head of nature reserves at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, said the fencing was needed.
"The fencing forms an enclosure for sheep that are grazing and helps us to reinstate the peat bog, as it is the biggest lowland peat bog in Western Europe," he said.
"The deer are wild animals and are free to roam over 8,000 acres at Crowle Moors. Some deer have been getting caught in the fence.
"This happens, but it is a very small number of incidents – more deer get stuck in the drains and ditches.
"It's a problem we are facing all over the county, but any incident of deer being hung on fencing is upsetting."
Mr Bromwich estimated there are around 90 deer on the moors and deer has been on the site since the 1800s.
Mr Bromwich said he was aware of poaching, but advised members of the public to report it to the police instead of confronting the culprits.
He said: "Deer is valuable on the black market and poachers are fairly strong characters who have said they will poach if they want to poach.
"There are people who are legally allowed to shoot deer on their own land because they hold a licence. They are not poachers."
Mr Bromwich said the tower Mr Carney referred to was erected to shoot deer by the previous landowner and is still used legitimately by the current landowner for the same purpose.
But Mr Bromwich agreed that it would not be difficult for poachers to trespass and use the platform to shoot deer.
He said: "We do rely on the honesty of people who have a legal right to shoot up there.
"The deer are regularly counted, so we are aware of how many get killed."
2 Comments
by johnc
Sunday, March 24 2013, 4:53PM
“the fencing is for grazing Hibernian sheep This is not the grazing browsing of the natural inhabitants
since the last ice age wild native deer grazing has determined the structure and natural ecological systems and has been the powerful selection pressure and influence of the natural ecological functioning of Crowle Moors
most plant growth form , life history and even the very physiological operation of many of the plant species have developed as they are because of the grazing of wild dear
It my be the case in Scotland that these Hibernian Sheep are grazed on low land peat, put that has never been the history or case on Thorne and Crowle Moor
Goat and sheep and the fencing to keep them in are there for no other reason than a money making scheme
And the ridiculous (stupid) con that they can assist in conservation, that is absurd, the Grazing of sheep and now also North Lincs Council goats introduces 2 different herbivores that have never been on or played any part in the moors history
there introduction and the culling and driving out of the deer is a fundamental change that will effect the selection forces on individual plants that remain, and the whole communities of smaller rodent and invertebrates
the grazing of sheep and goats is altering the dynamics an structure of the Moors
There are a number of shooting towers and I did not state any specific one. Get your facts correct Mr Bromwich. lets have facts and not spin
You are only claiming there are this many deer to encourage there culling
this is a SSSI and no one should even use a pea shooter on it
John Carney”
by johnc
Sunday, March 24 2013, 4:52PM
“the fencing is for grazing Hibernian sheep This is not the grazing browsing of the natural inhabitants
since the last ice age wild native deer grazing has determined the structure and natural ecological systems and has been the powerful selection pressure and influence of the natural ecological functioning of Crowle Moors
most plant growth form , life history and even the very physiological operation of many of the plant species have developed as they are because of the grazing of wild dear
It my be the case in Scotland that these Hibernian Sheep are grazed on low land peat, put that has never been the history or case on Thorne and Crowle Moor
Goat and sheep and the fencing to keep them in are there for no other reason than a money making scheme
And the ridiculous (stupid) con that they can assist in conservation, that is absurd, the Grazing of sheep and now also North Lincs Council goats introduces 2 different herbivores that have never been on or played any part in the moors history
there introduction and the culling and driving out of the deer is a fundamental change that will effect the selection forces on individual plants that remain, and the whole communities of smaller rodent and invertebrates
the grazing of sheep and goats is altering the dynamics an structure of the Moors
There are a number of shooting towers and I did not state any specific one. Get your facts correct Mr Bromwich. lets have facts and not spin
You are only claiming there are this many deer to encourage there culling
this is a SSSI and no one should even use a pea shooter on it
John Carney”
by Pizik
Sunday, October 21 2012, 4:35PM
“Omnomnomnomnom”
by gordonio
Sunday, October 21 2012, 4:11PM
“dellboy1959 - perhaps you should enlighten us on your nefarious activities into the realms of meat production, sounds interesting! Maybe you are a likely candidate for your own medieval theme park?”
by rafan
Sunday, October 21 2012, 7:19AM
“Oh Deer”
by NewsdeskSC
Saturday, October 20 2012, 10:58PM
“See next week's Telegraph for an update on the fencing”
by Sister_Wendy3
Saturday, October 20 2012, 8:02PM
“I'm vegan, but don't generally evangelise about it as it's a lifestyle choice that doesn't need to bother anyone else but I can't understand why anyone would injure or kill an animal for pleasure. I think I could do something quite unpleasant to a fox hunter if I didn't have perfect self-control.”
by dellboy1959
Saturday, October 20 2012, 7:41PM
“@ Sis W,
It depends how you look at it as to if you call it sport or not.
I for one never killed anything i wasn't going to eat and whatever i shot never suffered apart from the odd miscalculation when it moved the second you pull the trigger but even then it was hit with a second shot straight away.
I think if you were to get yourself a tour around an abattoir and see what goes on you wouldn't see a difference apart from the fact in the abattoir it's certain death whereas in the wild it has a chance to get away.
That is unless your a veggy then i apologise but the meat in the butchers window had to be killed in one way or another.”
by Sister_Wendy3
Saturday, October 20 2012, 6:15PM
“All blood sports are evil, even fishing. Torturing animals for pleasure is an early symptom of psychopathy.”
by dellboy1959
Saturday, October 20 2012, 5:38PM
“I hate to burst your bubble gordonio but people who know how to live off the land also know how to skin,gut and cut up the beasts without going anywhere near a butcher.
I can and used to (not deer ) do it on a regular basis.
deer are easy to butcher and easy to kill,try hunting wild boar (when in Germany) they fight back big time lol.”