Deer are killed by helicopter in Australia

Australia’s deer population has risen from 500,000 to nearly 2 million in 40 years, too much for officials to decide on a massive cull program.

Some mechanics say collisions with deer have become more common than with kangaroos. In the suburbs, there have been countless incidents of deer rampaging over people and damaging crops. Deer (well, deer, because Australia is home to 6 species of deer) have become unpopular on the continent. In Australia, we regulate kangaroos, cats, rabbits, camels (and in the 19th century camels were introduced to cross the country’s deserts in caravans) and now, if need be, deer.

So the authorities decided to strike hard by implementing a plan of mass slaughter. This is not the first, and in some areas “experimental” operations of mowing deer using helicopters were carried out a few years ago.

In early December, Australian authorities decided to “take the bull by the horns” and presented their “population control” plan. It consists of rounding up the deer in buffer zones and then shooting down special teams with helicopters. This technique has been used successfully in New Zealand and Jordan Munn of Trap and Trigger, shooting from helicopters using heat-sensing technology, has allowed hunters to target animals in the field. It would have taken months to kill the same number of deer with hunters on the ground, but with a helicopter we can do it in two weeks.“.

Operations take place at night. And corpses will be left behind. Officials explain that animals located in very remote and hard-to-reach areas cannot be rescued and are used to feed scavengers.