Approval sought for deer culling facility

PLANNING permisson is being sought for a processing facility to deal with an average of 100 to 120 deer carcasses, which are culled each year on the Caledon Estate.

A herd of wild deer in the area dates back to 1868 and is seen as one of the largest in the North.

They are located on the Deer Park of Caledon Demense, which is a large expanse of parkland located within the walls of the estate.

Now the Caledon Estates Company wants to build a new proposed carcass processing facility.

The application has been submitted to Mid Ulster Council, who will decide whether the application is given the green light.

In a supporting statement to the application the company says the herd is culled annually by a gamekeeper by stalking and then transported to an existing processing area, which they say has become outdated and not fit-for-purpose.

“With a new processing facility, sited on the proposed site, it is deemed that we can eliminate a lot of manual handling issues, with being able to add overhead hook gantries, to enable a carcass to be easily moved around the facility,” they said.

“It is important to note that to maintain a healthy herd of deer, a certain number of deer need to be culled annually and, to do this safely and effectively, the proposed new facility allows for higher food standards, a higher degree of safety in terms of manual handling and ease of cleaning and maintenance.”

The culling season is traditionally between the end of September and start of April, which the Caledon Estates Company says will mean that all activities within the proposal will take place during this period.

They say that around 100 to 120 carcasses will arrive at the facility from the surrounding estate lands.