Northlanders are being urged to report feral deer sightings after several were spotted, and one was shot, during a recent Bay of Islands aerial operation and an earlier incident where more than a dozen were found in the Kaipara.
Northland Regional Council biosecurity officers said the May 22 aerial sweep of approximately 2500ha of bush and farmland targeted sika deer on privately-owned properties in and around Elliot Bay, carried out by two specialised contractors aboard a helicopter.
At the other end of the region the council was working with partner organisations to deal with more than a dozen fallow and red deer found in an unauthorised fenced holding area in the Kaipara District, as well as several others spotted and shot in an ongoing control operation in regenerating bush nearby.
Biosecurity manager Don McKenzie said 30 years ago there were no known feral deer in Northland, but they were now thought to be living in the wild in more than half a dozen locations, most of them the legacy of farm escapes, the others having been released illegally.
Feral deer were officially classed as an eradication species in the North, and while their numbers weren't huge, they were definitely not wanted. It was illegal to release or move wild deer in or around the region.