Trailcam image of a sika hind at Ngaiotonga Reserve, south of Russell. Photo: DOC
Just three sika deer remain in Russell Forest a year after an ambitious eradication project began, the Northland Regional Council says.
Biosecurity group manager Don McKenzie said 64 deer had been removed so far along with about 500 goats.
Any recoverable meat was distributed to local communities, he said.
The Russell State Forest trial was launched in May 2024 at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.
It was so far ahead of schedule and under budget.
Critics have said local hunters should have been used, but McKenzie said experts with specialist equipment, such as thermal imaging drones, were required given the need to locate every last deer.
The council earlier told RNZ the project, if successful in Russell Forest, could be expanded to the 13 other wild deer populations around Northland.
A sika hind is captured by a trailcam in Russell State Forest. Photo: DOC
Those populations were scattered between Kaiwaka, near the Auckland border, and the bush behind Kaitāia airport.
The council said wild deer arrived in Northland in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of illegal releases and farm escapes.
Unlike other parts of New Zealand, deer were not released in Northland by the acclimatisation societies of the 19th century, which meant numbers were still low enough to make eradication possible.
Russell Forest had the region's only known population of sika deer, which were smaller and more elusive than the other species found around New Zealand.
Earlier, Department of Conservation senior wild animal advisor Dave Carlton told RNZ deer had no natural predators in New Zealand, so numbers could grow rapidly.
He said wild deer fed on forest plants, trees and seedlings, altering forest composition, removing food for native animals, and hindering regeneration.
Carlton said Northland was the ideal region to aim for deer-free status because it was bordered by the sea on two sides and Auckland city on the other.
Wild Deer Free Te Tai Tokerau is a partnership between the regional council, DOC, hapū and iwi - in this case Te Kapotai, Ngāti Kuta, Patukeha, Ngatiwai and hau kainga from Ngaiotonga - and the deer farming industry.
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