Michael Fitzmaurice Defends Hunting to Tackle Fox and Deer Crisis
Michael Fitzmaurice addressed rural wildlife management, arguing that hunting and gun clubs are necessary to control fox and deer overpopulation to protect livestock. He stated he has no financial interest in hunters and does not own a gun.
He warned that neospirosis, which he linked to foxes, can cause abortions in calves and cows and stressed that unmanaged fox and deer populations harm livestock and public safety. He argued the country needs a managed landscape and defended the role of hunters and gun clubs in population control.
He described the distress farmers face when lambs are killed or eaten during lambing and said victims need a timely response. He stressed that farmers cannot simply report sightings hours later and rely on weekend responses to investigate and address predation.
He recalled widespread deer overpopulation from Kerry to Donegal, saying herds on roads forced motorists to incur insurance or personal costs. He used this to illustrate why population control measures are needed in rural areas.
He criticised people in towns who feed foxes, saying attempts to tame wild animals fail and noting an incident in which someone who treated a fox like a pet required five stitches. He warned that such practices increase risks to the public and to wildlife.
He began by denying any financial or other interest in hunters and emphasised he does not own a gun, framing his remarks as coming from rural experience and concern for a viable, balanced landscape.
Main argument
He warned that neospirosis, which he linked to foxes, can cause abortions in calves and cows and stressed that unmanaged fox and deer populations harm livestock and public safety. He argued the country needs a managed landscape and defended the role of hunters and gun clubs in population control.
Rural impact on farmers
He described the distress farmers face when lambs are killed or eaten during lambing and said victims need a timely response. He stressed that farmers cannot simply report sightings hours later and rely on weekend responses to investigate and address predation.
Deer overpopulation and road safety
He recalled widespread deer overpopulation from Kerry to Donegal, saying herds on roads forced motorists to incur insurance or personal costs. He used this to illustrate why population control measures are needed in rural areas.
Urban feeding and public risk
He criticised people in towns who feed foxes, saying attempts to tame wild animals fail and noting an incident in which someone who treated a fox like a pet required five stitches. He warned that such practices increase risks to the public and to wildlife.
Personal declaration and perspective
He began by denying any financial or other interest in hunters and emphasised he does not own a gun, framing his remarks as coming from rural experience and concern for a viable, balanced landscape.
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Transcript
Goedemorgen. I'm welcome to be able to speak on this. The first thing I want to say is that I have no financial or otherwise interest in hunters, and second of all, I don't even own a gun, so I can't be accused of being lopsided because of it. Neospirosis. A lot of people wouldn't even know what it is. But if you're a farmer in rural Ireland and your calves or the cows are aborting, you'll know all about it, which comes from foxes. And where overpopulation happens, we come from a managed landscape. We come from a landscape where we saw a few years ago the problem, from Kerry right to Donegal throughout the country, of the overpopulation of deers. We saw where people driving the roads had to dig into their own insuredness or dig into their own pockets because of the overpopulation of deers. There was herds of deers running around the country, and you have to keep things controlled. And for me, they wouldn't have a gun. If I haven't someone in a hunt, if you have sheep lambing, and you're out at night, didn't it a great sight to see, when you talk about all the things that happens, a fox, didn't it a nice sight to see the head of your lamb gone, or most of your lamb ate? That's pretty rough for a farmer to see. And just people that are genuinely interested in making sure that there's a viable amount of everything in a managed landscape, do they want to see an old fox waddling along the road, not able to even get enough of food for themselves? Or tell the person, and I see Senator Brady up there highlighted, the person in cavern that thought the fox was going to be a nice tame animal, and that it would be their pet, that had to get five stitches. Tell that to them, because what people don't understand, in cities at the moment, people are feeding foxes. They are, it's like trying to tame a wild duck. It doesn't happen. You bring them three quarters there, and they'll snardle back at you and catch you. And you need to live in the rural areas to understand the rural areas. People talk about why is there hunting, and why is there gun clubs, or whatever. Because the farmer that's affected you during the week, when you go out in the morning and see the lamb or whatever that's gone, you have to contact someone. You don't just ring up and see the fox running up the field. It happened hours ago. And what you need is them to come at weekends to make sure that they find the problem in the area, and overpopulation is a major problem. We move on now to other members. Thank you.