Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 350: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if the National Parks and Wildlife Service has investigated the shooting of deer at a location (details supplied) as reported in a newspaper; the action that has been taken to identify and prosecute those responsible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3089/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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On 27 December 2005, in response to allegations that a number of deer had been shot on the night of the 26 December 2005, a member of the staff of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department investigated the alleged incident. The investigation showed that the deer in question were captive-bred fallow deer that had escaped from a local deer farm. Sections 25, 28 and 29 of the Wildlife Act 1976, as amended, govern the licensing of the hunting and killing with firearms of wild mammals. These provisions of the legislation expressly limit the licensing function to wild animals. As a wild animal is defined as including an individual of a population which primarily lives independent of human husbandry, a licence was not required under the Wildlife Acts for the killing of these captive bred deer with firearms. Accordingly, there was no basis for my Department to pursue the matter further.