The Kenting National Park Administration Office said it is aware that the population of Formosan Sikka Deer released into the park might have grown too large after discovering a decrease in the number of saplings and other plants, as well as trampled ground near Sheding Nature Park (社頂自然公園).
The administration said the diversity of flora and fauna in the region might have been seriously impacted.
The office released 233 Formosan Sikka Deer to live wild in the park in 1984, but the office estimated that the population has grown to 1,500, with the majority of the herd clustered in the Shueiwaku (水蛙窟) area of Sheding.
Photo: Tsao Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The once dense vegetation covering the mountains of Sheding is now nearly barren, showing the impact of the Formosan Sikka Deer’s return to the wild, the office said.
The natural predators of the Sikka Deer are wild dogs and humans, park official Hsieh Kuei-chen (謝桂禎) said, adding that with no other source of food, the Sikka Deer is forced to graze on grass and saplings.
These plants were formerly the easiest source of food, but now the herd has progressed to ingesting mildly toxic vegetation, Hsieh said.
The devastation caused by the deer to saplings has led to deforestation, Hsieh said, adding that unless the forest’s ecosystem could once again become self-sustainable, biodiversity in the area would suffer.
However, the law protects the deer from being harmed by man, Hsieh said.
Office director Liu Pei-tung (劉培東) said there was an obvious problem caused by the dense population of Formosan Sikka Deer in certain areas. He said that whether the large number of deer would lead to an “open season” on hunting the deer was dependent on a consensus being reached by academics, animal protection groups and the government.
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