The cull of healthy red deer in nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen has been stopped with immediate effect by a court in Lelystad because the Flevoland provincial authorities failed to make convincing case for its continuation.

The judge said it was unclear whether the intention to reduce the deer population back to 490 was in the interest of the flora and fauna of the reserve, or to prevent the animals from suffering.

Environmental groups were appealing against an earlier decision which allowed preventive culling of deer to stop the population from growing and facing possible starvation in the winter because of a lack of food.

Some 1,700 deer were shot during last winter’s cull but the population has now risen again to around 1,500, according to forestry commission figures.

However, a report by ecologist Frans Vera, who designed the reserve in the 1980s, carried more weight with the judge, who said the suffering of the animals is prevented to a sufficient degree, and that animals which were not expected to survive the winter were already being culled by forestry commission Staatsbosbeheer.

Birds

In addition, a reduction in the number of large herbivores, which were introduced to   keep the area open to attract wetland birds, has now caused vegetation to run wild, Marius Bouscholte of Stichting Dierbaar Flevoland, Marius Bouscholte told the Volkskrant

This is putting the bird populations under pressure, he said. ‘It’s about the birds and nature. I am very happy the judge agrees with us that the management of a nature reserve can’t be suddenly changed because some politicians want it to.’

The provincial authorities can now appeal to the Council of State as a last resort. That possibility is being studied, a provincial spokesman said.