The annual deer cull in Richmond Park has sparked animal rights protests in Kingston town centre and concern among KU students.

Despite the need to keep the park's male to female deer ratio at 3:1, campaigners are promoting public awareness of the culls and championing more humane methods to curb the population.

Former KU student Emma Waghorn explains: “The numbers have to be controlled, contraceptive drugs may not be practical, and this is too expensive. I always used to think it was the old and sick deer that are killed, but they kill perfectly healthy adults and young ones. They get some kind of income for selling the meat, the deer have a good life until they get shot.”

Ian Nightingale at Richmond Park said: “The deer cull is still happening now, the deer which are culled are sold onto a game dealer for market disribution to Richard Berwick of Chesterfield.”

 Animal rights campaigner Leslie Dove has been in Kingston town centre hoping to drum up support for her ‘stop the deer cull’ petition; she also promotes a method of birth control administered to a doe via contraceptive dart.

 “We don’t know if leaving the deer alone will help self-regulate the population, we believe it’s unnecessary to kill animals, and that we should always look for non violent alternatives. Leaving the deer alone has never been tested,” said Miss Dove

“The deer population has never been allowed to find its natural balance, they never give any alternatives - shooting them is more convenient. The authorities don’t like change, they think it works quite well,” continued Miss Dove.

 The deer cull occurs in November to December and February annually and is overseen by Royal Parks who manage Richmond Park and Bushy Park. While there are accusations of trigger happy money making agendas at work, there are valid reasons for curbing the population.

 Pippa Sweeney, 21, Fine Art student said: “They pick out certain deer, they don’t pick out young ones just after the breeding season, they kill stags, if you have too many stags they can cause problems when they rut and compete for females, it could be dangerous. 

 Andrea Latham 21, Fine Art Student said: “Can’t they just castrate them; they do it with cattle, why can’t they do it with deer.”

The 650 strong herds need to be kept at a manageable level especially given that there are no natural predators in Richmond Park and 200 births per annum, this also prevents starvation and the natural habitats being destroyed.

 “All the profits raised from the sales goes back into Richmond Park and hep feeding the deer over the winter, the number of deer culled depends on how many are born in spring, but we try and keep the number down to 650,” said Mr Nightingale.

Danielle Birkhead 21, Fine Art Student, said: “deer are one of the main attractions in the parks though they should be kept.”