By Mikayla van Loon
The feral deer problem in the Dandenong Ranges is not uncommon but for residents living in Sassafras they are battling deer of a different kind – domestic deer.
Around four weeks ago, Russell Oldham who lives on Gwenneth Crescent, received a call from his neighbours John Petersen and Gregg Brotherston, who said a herd of deer had run past their house.
“Every night for the last week I’ve gone down to the paddock and there are at least five deer, between five and eight deer in the paddock,” Mr Oldham said.
A nearby property on Florence Avenue that was recently sold, had housed 12 deer for many years in one of the paddocks for farming purposes.
Since the house has been sold, Mr Oldham and Mr Petersen said deer have been seen roaming the streets in Sassafras, which they suspect are the 12 from the Florence Avenue property.
Each night the deer run through Mr Oldham’s property, jumping his hedge to get to the nearby paddock.
The deer are destroying gardens, eating the fruit off fruit trees, eroding the embankments onto the roads and leaving scat or poo which is then being eaten by residents’ dogs, making them quite sick.
But the biggest concern residents have is the traffic hazard they cause when on the roads late at night, particularly on the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road.
Alex Prisco, who lives on Kenneth Avenue, said the most telling thing they had become an issue for her was when she encountered them driving home from work.
“I come home late at night because I do a shift that finishes at 10 o’clock and I came down The Crescent and at the top of The Crescent, all of a sudden, there’s a herd of deer in front of my car, not just one because I’ve seen lots coming up Mountain Highway, but there’s literally a herd,” she said.
While the roads are quiet because of the pandemic, Ms Prisco worries that when people return to work and are out at night, it won’t be long before an accident happens.
Mr Petersen said he has contacted VicRoads, who have told him the responsibility falls on the Yarra Ranges Council as these roads are under its jurisdiction.
Having submitted a number of requests to the council and to DELWP, the residents have been left with no solution to their problem.
Yarra Ranges Council’s director of environment and infrastructure Mark Varmalis said DELWP is the “managing authority for wildlife in Victoria, including deer on public land” but the council has the Biodiversity Team and Community Safety Team to manage escaped livestock or pets.
“When we’ve been contacted with an urgent request to help with wandering stock, such as sheep or cows, our Community Safety team will work to corral any animals to a safe area away from immediate harm,” he said.
“If a safe area is unavailable nearby, Council will safely transport animals to a secure Council stockyard until owners can be contacted and reunited with their animals.”
Although the residents have no real proof that these deer are farmed animals, they have never had any issues with deer before and find it hard to believe it is just a coincidence that after a property was sold four weeks ago that’s when the issues started.
“In terms of the council they should have a record of the registered number of animals on the property, because that’s a bylaw,” Mr Petersen said.
“If there are now no animals on the site, surely they can investigate records of where the animals went or how they disposed of them or sold them or what they did with them. And clearly if the gate has been left open or the fence has been cut they should be able to investigate it.”
Mr Oldham said Yarra Ranges Council makes a distinction between all livestock including cows, sheep and goats but not deer.
He, Mr Petersen and Ms Prisco believe that if these were cows or sheep, something would have been done by now.
“The onus is not on us to carry out an investigation on behalf of the council. I understand they have between a $60 and $70 million salaries budget each year and there are certain things that they should be doing in terms of frontline services,” Mr Petersen said.
“The onus is on them to carry out the investigation, under their legislation. We’re hearing a lot about their policies, programs and strategies and deer but there does not appear to be a frontline service for dealing with a dozen or 13 deer on the roads.”
The residents do not want to see these deer culled if it can be avoided but would rather see them sedated and moved to another farm out of regional suburbia.
Ms Prisco said if the deer been abandoned on the property the RSPCA could have stepped in under welfare.
“Had it been some poor little thing, suffering somewhere, I mean they are suffering, they’re lost, they don’t know where to go,” she said.
A dozen deer, Mr Oldham said may not seem like a huge issue but as they breed, the population will grow and he does not want to see them injured or killed on the roads.
“What we really want is an authority to take the responsibility and facilitate doing the best, the kindest thing for these deer because it’s not their fault, absolutely not their fault and just to make sure our neighborhood is protected as well.”
