THE PUBLIC is being warned not to come between a stag and his hinds this season, as the rut begins for the State’s largest wild mammal, the red deer of Killarney National Park.
Stags weighing up to 200kg with fully branched antlers are currently gathering their harem of hinds in the uplands of the national park and their bellows are already beginning across the lakes for the rutting – or mating – season.
The rut peaks in October and has become an attraction for walkers and the public who arrive to listen to the bellows of the red-coated stags and the clash of their antlers with rivals.
Noel Grimes, chairman of the Kerry Deer Society, which brought the red deer back from near-extinction 50 years ago, said the society was warning walkers that “stags can be dangerous”. The stags become emboldened at this time of year and are not afraid of people.
They fight, sometimes to the death, when gathering their hinds, frequently inflicting serious injuries on each other, Mr Grimes added.
Walkers who stray onto their paths are also regarded as rivals.
“A human is the same as another stag interfering with the harem.
“Walkers may not even see the hinds when they get close to the stag, and they risk being attacked,” he said.
The society is printing leaflets and taking out notices asking the public to enjoy watching them but to be safety aware and “admire them at a distance, through binoculars”
More than 600 red deer now roam the Killarney area and there are talks and walks organised by the deer society throughout the season.
Over-hunting, deforestation and the Great Famine all contributed to their decline to just 60 animals in 1960, according to the deer society.
The rut is now a tourist attraction in Killarney.
At the Lake Hotel, one of the oldest hotels in Killarney, diners have been astonished to see stags chasing each other into the lake, and the hotel has set up a deer watch on its website.