Extraordinary high rates of Lyme disease in Uist has sparked demands for a cull of red deer suspected of spreading the illness.
Health board figures show around 165 residents of Uist have been diagnosed with the illness over a four year period compared to just one case in the more populated island of Lewis and Harris.
A consultation on controlling deer in the area ends this weekend and a management plan will be finalised shortly.
The Uist Deer Management Group which proposes culling numbers by a third says one person every week is being diagnosed in Uist when it should be just one case every four years in such a small population.
The group has already agreed on a “zero tolerance approach to deer in immediate proximity to human residence or confined public spaces such as gardens, villages, school playgrounds, parks” which includes shooting.
It proposes reducing numbers by over 30% over the next few years.
Lyme disease -
Islanders are convinced the spread of the illness is linked to the increasing number of marauding red deer which are now coming down off the hill to roam around villages.
Deer do not directly carry the disease but they are known to host infected ticks which are then brought into residents’ gardens and crofts.
Deer numbers in one island -
A 2015 count on South Uist estate estimated a population of 778 deer.
Call for deer cull to combat spread of disease
11 March 2017
