ANIMAL campaigners last night accused officials at an East Anglian beauty spot of acting inhumanely after learning that a quarter of its deer population was culled every year.

ANIMAL campaigners last night accused officials at an East Anglian beauty spot of acting inhumanely after learning that a quarter of its deer population was culled every year.

Bosses at Thetford Forest said they had no choice but to cull 3,000 deer as they posed a serious threat to many rare and endangered species of birds, animals and plants.

But campaigners at Animal Aid urged the Forestry Commission to look at alternative measures of control and claimed that culling was often based on loose estimates.

Forestry officials last night warned that the 12,000 deer living in the East Anglian beauty spot were endangering protected species, including the stone curlew, nightjar and a number of types of bat.

Roger Woods, communications manager for the Forestry Commission, said: “This has been a long term issue - almost ever since the forest was created in the 1920s. But due to legislation, there is nothing we can do. We can only cull at certain times of the year and in certain numbers.

“We do have a large population of deer within the 60,000 acres of Thetford Forest. There are at least 12,000 deer which have heavy breeding patterns. Deer are a big issue in the forest and we have to cull about 3,000 a year.”

Kate Fowler-Reeves, head of campaigns at Animal Aid, said they were aware of the annual culling exercise at Thetford Forest but believed it was unnecessary.

She told the EADT: “There are so many ways these days that we are taking natural habitats away and we believe there are humane alternatives to lethal control.

“We don't agree with any kind of culling especially with something like deer when it is often impossible to know the true number. The animal is regularly targeted and, though I don't know Thetford Forest very well, deer can often be seen as an inconvenience.”

The muntjac, red and roe deer have proved a welcome attraction to the thousands of visitors to the forest, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). But Mr Woods said people were unaware that large numbers of deer threatened the habitat of many other species of wildlife.

Mr Woods said: “Deer cause damage to trees and flora and fauna within the forest but there is little we can do. Thetford Forest is the largest man-made lowland forest in Europe and, as a result of the habitat we have created, it is home to rare protected species.”