By EMMA SUN
DEER have been wreaking havoc on Basin-Olinda Road by causing near misses and unwanted close encounters with motorists and residents.
The latest victim, Tyler, whose surname could not be used for legal reasons, said he had a deer charge at him last week as he was walking home from school along Basin-Olinda Road in Olinda.
“It was a stag, about the height of my chest, which had come up from the state forest,” he said.
“I had to try and walk around him and then I ran home as fast as I could.”
It wasn’t the first time Tyler had encountered a deer.
He found himself face to face with another stag on the morning of Mother’s Day, as he was walking down to the shops to get a coffee for his mum, Kerry.
“It’s very scary – they’re not really afraid of you and they’ve charged at me twice now,” he said.
Kerry said she found the deer to be very territorial and quite fearless and feared it would only be a matter of time before someone got gored.
She said her encounters with the animals would often result in a stalemate where the deer wouldn’t move, and she couldn’t get past them.
“I sometimes see them as I drive from Basin-Olinda Road onto Mt Dandenong Tourist Road, and even if I flash my high beams or have my hand on the horn, they wouldn’t budge,” she said.
Nearby resident Peter Gates said his son had hit a deer about three years ago and has also swerved to miss three in the past few years.
His daughter also hit one at the bottom of Basin-Olinda Road about seven weeks ago, causing $4000 damage to her car.
“There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence about deer, they seem to be a thoroughfare across this area,” he said.
The exact origin of the deer is unknown, but Kerry said she had previously heard that they had come from a deer farm at the bottom of Basin-Olinda Road that had closed down many years ago.
Olinda Police Station Sergeant Paul Phillips said the deer either needed to be moved or culled.
“There are many cars coming down there and if you hit one it has the potential to cause serious damage – some of the big ones are the size of a pony or donkey so they’re big lumps of flesh,” he said.
“They’re beautiful looking creatures but they are very dangerous and someone’s going to get hurt.”
Kerry called on the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and Parks Victoria to look into the problem and said she hoped to see a resolution sooner rather than later.
“Someone needs to do something about it,” she said.
“Young kids play in this area and older ladies walk their dogs on this road, and they’re not nearly as agile as Tyler is.
“I just don’t want it to end with a death before something is done.”
DSE and Parks Victoria did not respond in time for deadline.
