Why Britain has a deer problem (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 month ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/nature@feddit.uk

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Ben Martill often gazes out of his window to watch the deer roaming below. "In the past few years there have been loads of them," he says. Yet Ben doesn't live in rural woodland but in a block of flats on a fairly busy road in the market town of Horsham in West Sussex. He often sees deer on the main thoroughfares.

"There are herds running up Crawley Road," he says. "Loads congregate at night on the traffic island of the bypass."

Ben, 33, is a gardener, and some of his customers have had deer break down their fences and strip the bark from the trees. He's had a near miss in his car, too.

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[-] Deebster@programming.dev 9 points 1 month ago

I don't understand why venison isn't on the menu more often in the UK. When I do see it, it's often on the special board, or in less mainstream restaurants. It's tasty, healthy and sustainable so what's that problem?

[-] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago

In Canada you aren't allowed to sell wild meat. It has to be farmed. This is to stop poachers and uninspected meat being sold. Wild deer can have gross shit in them. Around me "mad deer disease" is a thing.

[-] teft@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

Yeah, in maine we have chronic wasting disease in the deer population. Gotta inspect every deer you shoot because nobody wants a prion disease (not sure it can leap species but i don’t think anyone wants to chance it).

[-] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

chronic wasting disease

That's the one.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It can and has. It's why I stopped eating deer. Shits really bad in the south

[-] robocall@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I think people are supposed to freeze wild deer meat for like 6-12 months to kill the parasites in them

this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2025

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