Varde Municipality and Naturpark Vesterhavet are warning against feeding red deer and getting too close to stags, as September is the rutting season in southwest Jutland.
DR reported on September 14 that Varde Kommune has stepped up its public information effort about wild animals. The campaign is run together with Naturpark Vesterhavet and focuses on red deer, not only on wolves.
According to DR, the municipality is warning specifically against feeding red deer and is urging people to keep their distance from stags. September is the rutting season, and the risk of being attacked is higher during that period.
The municipality has produced posters that can be downloaded from its website. The idea is that summer house owners print them out and hang them in their houses or in summer house areas. The text appears in Danish, English and German, and one poster explains how to read the animals’ body language.
Jonna Jul Gudmundsen chairs the municipality’s Technical and Environmental Committee and is elected for the Social Democrats. As reported by DR, she said it does not help if people see a cute Bambi and then feed it inside town. She added that the animals react very differently once the rutting season begins, and that they must be respected.
Wolves follow the deer
Andres Poulsen is project leader at Naturpark Vesterhavet in Varde Kommune. Per DR’s reporting, he said wolves live primarily off red deer, so wolves will be present, or eventually arrive, where red deer are. That, he said, is exactly why the municipality does not want red deer in places with many people.
Gudmundsen made the same point, saying a wolf would have to be stupid not to follow red deer into town and eat them there. The municipality and the nature park therefore stress that red deer must not get used to finding food near humans.
Varde Kommune covers a stretch of the North Sea coast that is popular with people who explore nature in Denmark. DR notes that encounters with red deer in the municipality have gone wrong before. Last year, a 71-year-old woman was gored by a red deer in Blåvand, according to DR’s earlier coverage.
DR also documented an earlier case of a stag moving close to people in the same area. In March last year, a red deer turned up at the shop Hr Skov in Blåvand and drew a small crowd of onlookers.
The posters and the accompanying material remain available on Varde Kommune’s website, DR reports.
