From Local Action to National Impact: Reducing Deer Suffering After Road Collisions

19 December, 2024

Article by:
Andrea Barden, Marketing & Fundraising , British Deer Society

After 15 years of dedicated work by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary (HIOWC), together with essential support from Dorothy Ireland, Tony Lowry, and numerous other members of The British Deer Society (BDS), and other expert deer managers, we are delighted to see HIOWC’s police led Humane Animal Dispatch (HAD) Volunteer Scheme poised for national rollout.

DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS IN THIS ARTICLE

Humane Animal Dispatch (HAD): The ethical and responsible euthanasia of an animal, ensuring it is carried out quickly, efficiently, and with minimal pain or distress. It follows best practice guidelines, using approved methods and trained individuals to prioritise animal welfare.

Capture Myopathy: A non-infectious condition in animals, typically wild species, caused by extreme stress or exertion during capture, restraint, or handling. It leads to muscle damage, lactic acid build-up, and potential organ failure, often resulting in weakness, paralysis, or death.

The Need for HAD: Reducing Deer Suffering on UK Roads

When a deer is struck on the road by a vehicle and becomes immobile, it will likely be suffering from fractures, internal injuries, severe stress, or other trauma. Tragically, even relatively minor injuries cannot typically be treated without causing the animal further stress and suffering, often leading to fatal capture myopathy. In such cases, the most humane course of action is for firearms officers or a trained HAD volunteer, who tends to be an experienced deer or wildlife manager, to dispatch the deer swiftly and humanely, supported by local police.

Currently, most police forces across the UK depend on their firearms officers to carry out the humane dispatch of a deer injured in a vehicle collision. HIOWC in comparison depend on a combination of HAD volunteers and firearms officers.

See: What is a HAD Volunteer

Photos taken by HIOWC Volunteer Glenn Moores (Digital Fauna) during night-time HAD call-outs.

“The HAD volunteers are an invaluable resource. The support they provide to policing at the roadside is phenomenal – not only are they experts in their field, ensuring that animals do not suffer unnecessarily in the aftermath of a collision, but as an asset their deployment ensures other police resources can direct their focus elsewhere.”

Inspector Stuart Ross, HIOWC

Formalising HIOWC’s HAD Volunteer Scheme Ready for National Rollout

Although HIOWC has been using HAD volunteers for many years, they recognised their scheme required several developments if it was to continue to meet police operational requirements and be suitable for adoption by other forces across the UK.

Over the last two years, HIOWC, with support from their existing HAD volunteers, the BDS, other Deer Management Qualifications (DMQ) member organisations, the RSPCA, the British Animal Rescue and Trauma Care Association (BARTA), and deer industry experts, have incorporated these necessary adjustments into the scheme. These leading deer industry and animal welfare organisations fully back the updated HAD Volunteer Scheme led by HOIWC.

“I have been involved in deer-vehicle collision dispatches for over 40 years and was there at the inception of the Wiltshire and Hampshire HAD volunteer schemes many years ago. Since their creation, there has been a clear need to enhance the scheme in several areas – especially to mitigate the risks associated with using firearms in public places. Hampshire Constabulary’s scheme for their HAD volunteers now covers all the essential aspects and is being offered to other constabularies nationwide.”

Tony Lowry, HIOWC Volunteer Humane Animal Dispatch (HAD) Advisor and BDS member

VOLUNTEERS NOW RECOGNISED UNDER THE CONSTABULARY’S COMMUNITY SCHEME

A key adjustment to the scheme is that volunteers are now officially part of HIOWC’s voluntary community scheme and are covered by the force’s public liability insurance when they are attending a HAD call-out.

Other key adjustments to the scheme include the integration of a HAD callout system into the police control room operations, the development of HAD volunteer identification cards and various data recording requirements.

APPLICATION NOW REQUIRES A RECOGNISED PRERQUISITE QUALIFICATION

A further development in the scheme is that prospective HAD volunteers must complete a prerequisite qualification that has been recognised to meet a constabulary’s required curriculum and standards before applying to join a HAD scheme. The purpose of this prerequisite qualification is to ensure prospective HAD volunteers are suitably prepared to undergo the independent police assessment required to join a HAD scheme. The police assessment is rigorous and tests multiple skill sets including safety and sensitivity requirements around discharging a firearm in public.

Currently, the Deer Management Qualifications (DMQ) HAD Award, is the only recognised prerequisite qualification for police led HAD schemes. Several DMQ Assessment Centres, including the BDS, are in preparation to deliver training for this qualification across the country as and when other constabularies choose to adopt the HAD scheme and start to require HAD volunteers.

Attendance at a DMQ HAD Award course does not guarantee acceptance onto a police HAD scheme, however the qualification is open to anyone wishing to extend their knowledge.

“To provide specific HAD training for volunteers, Deer Management Qualification (DMQ) have recently introduced a HAD award which has now become a pre-requisite qualification to joining our HAD scheme. For those wanting to become a HAD volunteer, obtaining this qualification is essential. You will be able to out find more information about the DMQ HAD award by visiting BASC, BDS and NGO websites. The DMQ HAD Award courses will become available across the UK through their training providers as police forces begin to adopt the Hampshire volunteer HAD scheme in support of a national collaboration.”

Inspector Stuart Ross, HIOWC

Why The HAD Volunteer Scheme Matters

The HIOWC police led HAD Volunteer Scheme ensures that a trained, experienced, and fully insured volunteer is available, and supported by local police. This allows police forces to focus on their primary duty of public safety, confident that animal welfare is in the best possible hands. These volunteers care deeply about preventing unnecessary suffering and will travel significant distances at all hours to assist.

In addition to preventing deer suffering, the HAD scheme presents substantial cost savings for police forces—potentially tens of thousands of pounds annually—which allows resources to be redirected to frontline policing, including rural areas.

HIOWC have reported that this year, up to 31 October, HADs had been deployed on 130 occasions to animal dispatch incidents across the county, compared to 21 deployments for firearms officers. This has enabled the Constabulary to make savings of up to £47,095, rising to £59,041 by the end of 2024.

Their projections for 2025, factoring in the rise in deer population and anticipated HAD deployments, are that the Constabulary estimates it could save in excess of £100,000.

Initiating National Rollout of the HAD Scheme

HIOWC have now begun efforts to roll out their HAD Volunteer Scheme nationally. This is a huge step in helping to reduce deer suffering on our roads across the country.

“We recently launched our scheme nationally to an audience of police colleagues around the country, and we are pleased that other forces such as Derbyshire have already recognised the scheme as best practice and are exploring adopting it in their area.”

Hazel Cross, Country Watch Coordinator, HIOWC

As the scheme expands nationwide, The British Deer Society is proud to pledge support for its success.

We are currently continuing to work with HIOWC and other partners to support the national rollout and will provide updates on this and the HAD Award qualification as soon as it becomes available in different areas of the country.

By continuing to collaborate with key partners and dedicated volunteers, we are ensuring that this critical work alleviating deer suffering on UK roads will expand and thrive across the country.

““I was involved with the set up of the HAD Volunteer Scheme in 2007 with Hampshire Police, so I am delighted to see how far it has progressed over the years. Now I look forward to seeing it at other police forces in the Country. This is a very proud moment for those who have worked so hard to get this far, and a special thank you to those HAD volunteers who give uo their spare time to attend deer related accidents that happen so frequently on our roads”

Dorothy Ireland, Chair of BDS Wessex Branch and avid HAD Volunteer Supporter

CAN YOU HELP US KEEP HAD VOLUNTEERS SAFE AS THEY TURN UP FOR DEER IN DIRE NEED?

HAD volunteers require some essential equipment including jackets, vehicle protection lighting, vehicle signage and safety glasses to carry out their role safely and effectively.

In all this equipment currently costs £304 per HAD volunteer.

We are actively raising funds to assist new police-approved HAD volunteers with this critical gear that will keep them safe. By helping provide this equipment we will also help support additional cost savings for police forces, which we hope they can reinvest into local policing.

HIOWC are currently expanding their number of HAD Volunteers. To help keep these 20 or so new volunteers safe we are looking to raise an initial amount of £6,000 towards equipment. Any additional funds raised past this target will be held to purchase the equipment for new police approved HAD volunteers in other counties that adopt the HAD Volunteer Scheme in the future.

ADD YOUR SUPPORT & HELP US RAISE £6,000 FOR HAD’s

If you’d like to help please add your support today. Any gift, no matter how small will help keep these dedicated volunteers safe as they turn up for deer in need at anytime of day or night.

Choose a donation amount:

Long-Term Goals: Funding To Support HAD Volunteers Gain Prerequisite Training

In the long term, we aim to raise enough funds, through the help of our members and supporters, trust grants and corporate partnerships, to support vetted applicants with the specific prerequisite training qualification they need to complete to apply to become an official police HAD volunteer.

Stay Up To Date On All HAD News

If you want to be the first to know when a new police force adopts the HAD Scheme and when training for the DMQ HAD Award will become available through the BDS in other county’s beyond Hampshire, please follow our Training Page on Facebook and subscribe to the BDS Deerybtes Newsletter using the form below.

HIOWC will be joining the BDS at The Stalking Show (12^th-13^th April 2025 at Stafford Country Show Ground) to answer questions about their scheme and useful information to anyone interested in becoming a HAD Volunteer in the future.