The ungulate pretender: Why the non-native Sika deer may become Scotland's new Monarch of the Glen

Abstract

High deer densities conflict with carbon sequestration and nature restoration objectives in Scotland, and heavy culling is increasingly common, alongside woodland expansion. To date, there is little coordination of deer control to address the spread of the non-native Sika deer. Sika differ from native species in several ways that make them more likely to occupy newly created woodland habitat, achieve high densities, cause environmental damage and evade culling. In the absence of strategic management, there is a risk that culling has limited or perverse outcomes for Scotland's natural environments and native deer by reinforcing Sika's advantages, inadvertently creating a population dominated by non-native deer and hybrids. We, a group of ecologists, deer managers and foresters, use our own experience alongside existing literature to highlight the challenges of, and to make a series of recommendations for, coordinated Sika management. Solution. We call for official recognition of the threats posed by Sika as an invasive non-native species, in order to support strategic control of Sika populations at the edges of their range and at key points within them. This control can benefit enormously from collaborative evidence gathering using new technologies such as drone-based censuses, information sharing and coordinated culls.