Harold Hill: The Deer Should be Culled

North Havering has herds of deer. They’re picturesque and delightful to look at but as they’re living in an environment without natural predators, they breed rapidly. Bambi is apparently harmless but in actual fact is a health hazard and causes road accidents.

Bambi is lovable but not in an urban environment.* Deer are wild animals who shouldn’t interact with humans. They have ticks living on them. This sounds harmless but it’s recently been established that ‘Tick Borne Encephalitis’ has arrived in Britain. Encephalitis usually makes healthy people feel mildly unwell but occasionally it’s lethal for the vulnerable elderly and very young. Havering’s deer haven’t had injections and as they migrate into urban areas they bring ticks with them, with the possibility of disease.

Parks in north Havering look like battle zones as they’re systematically destroyed by deer. Natural habitats are stripped bare.

The enclosure is deer proof but everywhere else is unprotected from the deer’s appetite. Deer destroy everything in their path. Bluebells ought to be growing in profusion but it’s a wasteland. Trees are killed when their bark is ripped off.

Deer roam into the Harold Hill estate. Obviously they don’t worry about the Highway Code. So far there haven’t been any fatalities but there has been extensive damage to many vehicles.

Havering’s deer need to be culled before they cause serious road accidents or spread disease. This is a political decision, which councillor Osman Dervish should address urgently.

* https://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/latest-news/tbe-has-arrived-in-the-uk/