The province of Drenthe has granted an exemption until December 31, 2029 to have deer shot to prevent the animals from being hit. On Tuesday, nature clubs Fauna4life and Animal Rights went to the administrative court in Groningen to prevent this.
Drenthe Fauna Management Unit (FBE, this is a collaboration between farmers, hunters and other nature conservation organizations) has received this exemption with a view to road safety. The nature clubs believe that this decision is insufficiently substantiated.
According to them, there is no one-to-one connection between the number of deer and road safety. “In Smilde the population has declined sharply, but the number of collisions remains stable,” said the Fauna4Life spokeswoman. “In other places we see population growth, while the number of collisions remains stable there too.”
The judge also stated that the fauna management plan is very general. “It is important that there is insight into the nature and severity of the accidents. That is not there,” the judge said. An FBE spokeswoman said it was not possible to tag each individual animal. “We work with volunteers who come to the scene after an accident. They sometimes encounter distressing things. We also see a national picture that the greater the density of the population, the more traffic accidents there are.”
The nature clubs stated that that is not enough. “This is done in the interest of road safety and public health. This must be convincingly substantiated. This is arbitrary.”
Moreover, according to the foundations, other measures are also possible to prevent deer from ending up on the bonnet. Such as wildlife grids and ecoducts. These parties wonder whether this has been sufficiently investigated.
The nature clubs also point to a ruling made last year by the court in Zeeland. The judge then struck down such an exemption. Because, according to the judge, the province of Zeeland had not demonstrated that killing a large number of deer contributes in any way to improving road safety for these animals.
The judge in Groningen was critical on Tuesday. “With such a general fauna management plan, it is difficult to gain insight into whether sloping down is the only option.” She read in the plan that wildlife mirrors have been placed. “Apparently not all measures have been used yet.”
The province urged the judge to uphold the permit. “An increase in collisions cannot otherwise be ruled out. We want to prevent unnecessary suffering.” The nature clubs then said that “every randomly shot deer is one too many” and advocated tailor-made solutions.
The judge will make a ruling within two weeks.