Aussie city stunned by strange sight

Yahoo

19 hours ago

Residents of a major Australian city have been left stunned after a deer was filmed sprinting across busy traffic, as experts warn of an explosion in the feral species.
In the video, uploaded to Facebook, a deer leaps out from the medium strip and in front of two cars on Ginninderra Dr in Canberra on Tuesday.
The driver slows down for the invasive animal, which he said was large and with 'branched antlers', before exclaiming: 'What the f**k?'
Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough said the video, while 'shocking', was no longer an 'uncommon sight in some of our major cities'.
'Deer numbers have exploded in recent years and they are increasingly going into our major cities,' Mr Gough said.
'That is a cost that's showing up on people's car insurance bill because they (deer) are increasingly turning up on roads, on train lines, and causing accidents.'
Mr Gough said as deer numbers grew, the interactions between deer and drivers increased, which is a 'massive problem in terms of people's safety'.
Earlier this month, pictures of a deer on train tracks near a station in Sydney's south were uploaded to Instagram, marking further encroachment by the species.
The NSW Invasive Species Management Review found that more than 212 deer had been struck by trains in the northern Illawarra region alone since 2010-11.
A further 107 motor vehicle incidents involving deer were also reported in the Wollongong and Lake Illawarra area from 2005-17, one being fatal.
Mr Gough said the booming deer population had been met in NSW by decades of governmental delay and a lack of serious legislative action.
A NSW Bill to expand hunting rights for so-called 'conservation hunters' will face a public inquiry later this year after pushback from the council and activists.
The council has claimed the Bill, which will ease access to state forests for hunting, would do little to stem populations of feral animals, such as deer and pigs.
Instead, Mr Gough said South Australia was 'leading the nation' in managing deer amid the encroachment of deer on the verdant Adelaide Hills area.
'They've got a 10-year plan to eradicate deer completely from the state,' Mr Gough said.
'That has been the consequence of some real leadership from the government, from across politics, to get on top of the issue.'
For Canberrans unaccustomed to wild deer in city, the sight of the animal on Tuesday sparked mixed emotions, with some calling them 'majestic' and others for it to be shot.
'They're majestic until they write off your car and almost kill you in the process,' one Facebook user said.