Deer cull call by motoring group

The deer population has increased

A motoring group has called for a cull of Scotland's deer population to reduce the number of accidents on the roads.

More than 70 people were injured when their vehicles collided with the animals last year.

Thousands of deer were also killed when they were hit by cars. Neil Greig, of the AA Motoring Trust in Scotland, said the numbers should be reduced.

But Professor John Milne of the Deer Commission said the problem was down to drivers and faster roads.

Motorway accidents

Experts say Scotland now has more deer than ever before and the New Year period sees the highest accident rates involving deer.

But Prof Milne said a cull would not solve the problem.

"We have been targeting three particular trunk roads where there have been quite a lot of accidents and in those areas there is actually no increase in deer in the last 10 years," he said.

"What has changed is that the roads have been improved so that drivers are going a lot faster than they were."

Mr Greig said: "If you are talking about deer being found on motorways and we have reports of motorway accidents and accidents involving deer in the centres of Edinburgh Glasgow, we do need to be looking at culling the numbers."

The Deer Commission for Scotland estimates that up to 10,000 deer are killed every year on the roads.