Sika deer keepers challenge EU order to kill their animals

Sika deer keepers in Bavaria are protesting an EU classification that requires the animals to be killed by summer 2027, BR reported. The rule applies both to free-ranging deer and animals kept in enclosures.

Vanessa Süss and Nino Buchner keep sika deer at Chiemsee. The animals resemble red deer does at first glance, but sika deer are a species originally from East Asia. The herd’s calves were born in early summer and are now moving around with the group.

Under the EU regulation, sika deer are considered an invasive species. Keeping, breeding, transporting and importing them is prohibited, subject to a transition period lasting until summer 2027. The decision followed a scientific risk assessment that included concerns that animals could escape and mate with native deer. The report also says hybrids already exist.

Many wildlife keepers switched to sika deer in recent years because the animals are considered calmer and offer high meat yields. The rule that they must not reproduce has immediate consequences. The next mating season begins in autumn, and keepers who cannot separate the stags from the herd would be forced to kill them.

Keepers say the classification was made remotely by officials in Brussels and argue that their enclosures are escape-proof. They also say sika and red deer have different mating seasons. Affected keepers, including many farmers who raise sika deer as a secondary activity, have formed the Sika Save working group to lobby politicians and protect their enclosures and businesses.

The Bavarian Environment Ministry said the state government supported the keepers. It plans to seek an exemption through the Federal Environment Ministry. The European Commission would then decide on the application and, if it approved the exemption, set conditions for keeping the animals, including requirements for preventing escapes.

The Bund Naturschutz environmental organisation distinguishes between free-ranging and enclosed sika deer. It supports stronger and more intensive hunting of free-ranging animals, including the use of night-vision equipment, with the goal of removing them. It would accept enclosure keeping if secure fences were guaranteed and escaped animals were shot at the keepers’ expense.

The Bavarian Hunting Association is calling for the EU classification to be withdrawn. It says no ecological or biological problems or disadvantages associated with the species are known. In Bavaria, it says, the small deer are found almost exclusively in Upper Palatinate and migrated there from the Czech Republic.