Deer escape after fences deliberately cut

Press, 20 November 1989, Page 3

Deer escape after fences deliberately cut

By

NIGEL MALTHUS

Deer valued at least $30,000 have escaped from a farm at Eyrewell, i owned by the Cust Christian Community, J after someone deliberately cut the fences. ' Bolt-cutters had been used to cut the t fences in three different areas and the mesh folded back to make sure the deer I could escape, said a community spokes- £ man, Mr Neville Cooper. ' The farm backs on to the eastern end c of the Eyrewell Forest, and the animals £ had escaped into the forest, he said. The breaks were discovered on Satur- i

day morning and had presumably been cut overnight. At least 40 animals, from a herd of more than 100, had escaped, including yearlings and hinds about to calve. If they calved in the forest, they would be almost impossible to recapture, Mr Cooper said. By late yesterday, community members had managed to round up some animals. One of the breaks in the fence would be left open in the meantime in case others returned of their own accord, Mr Cooper said. He said the community could not understand why anyone would cut their

animals loose. He did not think it was anyone with a grudge against the Christian community. “In the early days, we’d have thought ‘yes.’ We’ve been through a lot here at Cust, just because we’re different.” The persecution had faded a lot as people came to more understanding of the community’s aims, he said. Mr Cooper said that the fences may have been cut by would-be shooters, trying to replenish the Eyrewell Forest. The community had not called the police, but Mr Cooper wanted to make the incident public to warn other deer

farmers that they might also be at risk. A Forestry Corporation spokesman, Mr Frank Neither, said that access for shooting to the forest was restricted. Normally it carried very few deer and few permits were issued. None were issued at this time of year, he said. The Christian community plans to patrol the farm boundaries to guard against a recurrence. Mr Cooper said that the community was expanding. It was developing the deer farm, some distance from the main community, ready to establish a new community there.