Aberdeen deer cull to go ahead

Over 30 deer on are set to be culled as part of the councils ‘Tree for Every Citizen’ campaign.

The campaign involves the planting of 80 000 trees in Aberdeen’s Tullos Hill area and the council fears that any dear in the surrounding area would destroy the saplings.

This has predictably sparked a reaction from many environmental and animal safety groups including John Robins from Animal Concern who promised “a protest on the ground when the culling starts” and said that there was “absolutely no need to kill these animals”

The Police told protesters, who have warned that they would stand in front of bullets, that the deer could be saved if they could raise around a quarter of a million pounds to go to the costs of a fence surrounding the planting area, which lies within the 140 acre site.

After a petition and donation page was set up for the cause, only £50 was donated.

The council have claimed to not have set a date for the culling to begin but said that they would begin when “conditions were most favourable”.

Chris Piper, who is overseeing the project on the councils behalf said: "Because the roe deer population on Tullos Hill is currently much higher than the land can support, there is very little variety of vegetation growing and deer suffer as a result."

Simon Kermack