New regulations for Tasmanian deer farming will take effect from Friday.
Developed in consultation with the deer farming industry, the Nature Conservation (Deer Farming) Regulations 2022 are designed to support Tasmania’s deer farming industry and align with the Government’s Tasmanian Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan 2022-27.
The regulations include new arrangements for deer farmers, including a deer farm licence system that aims to improve the responsible management of farmed deer and minimise the risk of farmed deer straying into the surrounding environment.
The arrangements will support improved requirements for fencing and handling, as well as providing greater measures for tagging and record keeping to ensure that escaped farm deer can be identified and traced back to their source.
The new regulations support contemporary deer farming, and do not enforce a one size fits all model but rather an approach that enables deer farm licence conditions to be tailored to specific farms and situations.
The Tasmanian Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan supports enhanced deer farming regulation, including these new regulations to support farmers and minimise the risk of escapees being a source of seed stock to establish wild herds in new locations.
The Plan takes a balanced approach to deer management, and the Tasmanian Government provided an additional $1.875 million in the recent State Budget in recognition of the importance of implementing the Plan.
Our Government is a strong supporter of responsible deer farming, and we continue to deliver on our deer management policies and commitments.
More information about the regulations can be found on the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania website.
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