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Victorian landholder blocked from controlling hog deer under outdated laws

A Victorian landholder says she has been blocked from controlling invasive hog deer on her property due to restrictive and outdated state laws.

Under Victoria’s current system, landholders must apply for permits to control hog deer, with approvals often dependent on inspections to verify damage. 

Yanakie landholder Karin Ruff said she was denied permission to control deer on her property because she had installed tree guards in a bid to protect her property from ring-barking and browsing damage. 

‘We were essentially told that because we’d put in guards, we didn’t need to control the deer – that just doesn’t make sense.

‘The system is protecting deer instead of helping landholders manage an invasive species that’s clearly out of control.

‘During COVID-19, we were granted permits because inspectors couldn’t come out to the property, but even then, we were only granted permission to remove 5 deer one year and 1 deer the next – when you compare that to how many there are, it’s not much. 

‘Now it takes 4 inspectors to come out, and each time they haven’t looked at the full extent of the damage in the bush – it’s a waste of taxpayer money. 

‘Unfortunately, these feral deer are being protected for the benefit of a small number of hunters and shooters and property owners are paying the price for it.’

Invasive Species Council Victorian Conservation Advocate, John Kelly said:

‘Landholders should not have to wait for bureaucratic approval to protect their property, the environment and livelihoods.

‘This case shows the system is reactive – it forces people to wait until harm is already visible, rather than allowing them to prevent it.

‘Feral deer are causing growing impacts across regional Victoria, including competition with livestock, damage to fences and crops, degradation of waterways, and increased risks of disease transmission.

‘But small-scale, fragmented efforts and recreational hunting cannot tackle this issue alone.

‘Control must be coordinated across public and private land and backed by sustained investment.’

The Invasive Species Council is calling on the Victorian government to remove the wildlife protection status of feral deer, remove unnecessary barriers to control, and fully fund the state’s deer control strategy.

Media inquiries: (02) 8006 5004

Photo: Karin Ruff.

Related Content

Feral Deer Control: A Strategy for Tasmania
Meet the Invaders: Deer
Feral deer in Victoria

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]