From: J.M.Spencer@newcastle.ac.uk (Jonathan Spencer)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.animals
Subject: Re: How often is culling needed?
Date: 21 Aug 92 11:13:10 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU

tsr00@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Ted Robinson) writes:

>I wrote:
> > A common claim made by hunters is that, by culling herds to supportable 
>>levels, they're actually reducing the suffering and death incurred by the 
>>herd as a whole. 

If sufficient are killed, yes, that's true. Look at the experience of
the red deer in the Scottish Highlands. Insufficient culling of hinds
has lead to overpopulation to the point where the deer are now causing
permanent erosion to the land, and die of starvation in their hundreds
(if not thousands) each winter. A quick death is surely prefereably to a
prolonged one through starvation, isn't it?

>I then asked if people had data indicating how frequently this claim could 
>indeed be applied. Several people replied, and their answers all seemed to be  
>variations on the same basic theme, which I'll paraphrase as follows:

>   <I don't know...>

I sent an answer which maybe you didn't see, and can be paraphrased as

 <with respect to British deer species, continuously, ie year round>

>Fair enough, I expected the data to be difficult to find. 

It isn't. You just need to know where to look. As a starter, try,
"Practical deer stalking" by KG Whitehead, 1986, Constable, London,
priced 10.95 pounds in which he presents a cull plan for roe deer,
based on their capacity to reproduce at 40% per annum; look at the
Jaegerpruefungsbuch published by Paul Parey of Germany; check out the
_The Independent_ newspaper of 25 Sep 91, page 11 which discusses the
expansion of North American deer and their culling; You could contact
The Red Deer Commission (in Scotland) and ask them to confirm that the
reason why the red deer population in Scotland has doubled from 150,000
to over 300,000 in the last twenty years, and why are deer dying from
starvation in their hundreds each year, and why are they advocating an
immediate cull of at least 60,000 hinds; you could subscribe to the
British Deer Society where cull plans/levels are a perenial subject in
the quarterly journal. Loads of information, get cracking!

>1. Fowl - my guess is that rarely, if ever, is hunting needed to

The Canada goose population in Britain is becoming a *serious* problem.
They can strip a field of winter wheat in a single morning. Culling
through hunting is the only way to control numbers. No, that's not
true. They could be poisoned or trapped, maybe their breeding cycle
could be interrupted. 

>2. Large Predators - these species (bear, coyote, wolf, cougar) have
>no natural predators responsible for population control (outside
>their own species), so obviously there's no predation vacuum that
>needs human filling.

Right, Starvation and disease would control them. But what should be
done when their expanding population forces them to recolonate areas
which humans want for themselves, when their is conflict?

>3. Ungulates - there may be some cases where the claim applies to ungulates 

Read the literature I've suggested.

>4. Little critters (that's the technical term, you know) - squirrel, racoons, 
>possum, what else? Don't lots of people like to hunt these little beings? Are 
>they threatened with starvation due to lack of predation?

At this time of year the rabbit population is nearing it's peak. By
January, unless I give them a good hammering, there will be sorry,
sodden carcases all over the land. This is despite the presence of
multiple predators on the farm (buzzards, mink, fox, and the farm cat
(who isn't ever fed by humans)). Also, if I haven't reduced the
population by September, miximatosis sweeps through the population. This
has happened every year when I haven't hit them hard, and never happened
when I do. (Seven year's data.) The same happens right across Britain.

--Jonathan
Newsgroups: talk.politics.animals