No go for Forest fence idea (From Salisbury Journal)

No go for Forest fence idea

8:50am Saturday 31st January 2009

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RUMOURS that parts of the New Forest could be fenced off to prevent animal road deaths have been quashed.

Clerk to the Verderers Sue Westwood told The Forest Journal that fencing was not only “undesirable and unacceptable” but would also be illegal.

Mrs Westwood said: “There have been rumours circulating but any plan would need an Act of Parliament as the Forest is common land.”

A spokesman for the New Forest National Park said she had not heard of any plan for the scheme.

Over the last week discussions in the media about ways to prevent animal deaths have touched on the idea of fencing.

Animal deaths have in fact reached an all time low with the accidents on the roads reaching numbers not seen since 1956.

However, as part of a plan to combat the problem of red deer damaging farmland and crops, four new grazing areas have been set aside in the Forest.

The sites cover ten hectares in the woodlands around Brockenhurst. In addition, the New Forest Show Society has opened up their land at New Park as a “deer lawn” where the animals can feed.

Although thousand of tourists visit the Forest to see red deer grazing they are quick runners and strong jumpers and if they leap over small fences in search of food, they can cause damage to farmland and crops.

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