Fair Game: valuing the bio-cultural heritage of fallow deer and their venison for food security, sustainable woodlands and biodiversity

公平游戏：重视小鹿及其鹿肉的生物文化遗产，以促进粮食安全、可持续林地和生物多样性

• 批准号: AH/Z505675/1
• 负责人: Naomi Sykes
• 金额: $ 10.33万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FZ505675%2F1
• 关键词: Fair; Game; valuing; bio; cultural

Fallow deer are an icon of the British landscape and an important part of the island's bio-cultural heritage. They are native to the Mediterranean but, over the last 2,000 years, have been repeatedly introduced to Britain. They are now more numerous than at any point in the past and are overgrazing landscapes and prohibiting woodland regeneration, to the detriment of their population's welfare and broader biodiversity.Deer culling is contested but is currently the only viable population management strategy. Deer stalkers are in decline due to lack of training and because younger generations have a negative perception of deer culling. Indeed, fear of negative publicity is a concern for deer management organisations, which further suppresses discourse on the subject.The cultural distaste for deer culling and venison consumption is exemplified by the National Food Strategy, which regards wild animals as outside of human consumption. For this reason, most wild venison is discarded or exported at a low price. By contrast supermarket venison is expensive and generally sourced from deer farms located as far away as New Zealand.Both the government-funded Deer Initiative (1995-2020) and DEFRA's 2022 consultation on deer management stressed that wild venison is affordable, healthy, high-welfare, sustainable and a by-product of necessary deer culling. Yet this messaging has not connected with the general public.Our AHRC-funded project Dama International generated the missing narrative to contextualise fallow deer management and present it in an engaging and palatable way. It demonstrated that modern fallow deer descend from populations established ~1000 AD as part of a medieval hunting culture. The species was hunted primarily by women and deer carcasses were ritually butchered, or 'unmade', and venison redistributed throughout society to facilitate community cohesion. To protect venison supplies, fallow deer were managed in parks and top predators (bears and wolves) were eradicated. Gradually, hunting and venison fell out of fashion, fallow deer escaped from parks and, in the absence of top predators their populations burgeoned. In essence the modern fallow deer problem is a legacy of the medieval period.Fair Game will use Sussex as a proof-of-concept region to demonstrate how Dama International's research can provide solutions to the intractable problems of deer management. We will do this by resuscitating medieval-style approaches to fallow deer hunting, carcass processing and venison redistribution by:Fostering a more diverse demographic for deer stalkers by providing deer management and game hygiene courses, aimed at younger people and women.Establishing communal infrastructure for the storage and supply of venison carcassesCreating a new 'Virtuous Venison' brand for redistribution via the food charity FareShare.Providing an engaging communication strategy (animated film and pop-up exhibitions) that explains the history of fallow deer, the need to cull them and the societal benefits of their venison.Fair Game is not only timely given the biodiversity crisis, cost of living crisis and rising demand for food banks but is justifiable on ethical and environmental grounds. We believe Fair Game will transform public understanding and ultimately the sector's approach to deer management.

休养鹿是英国景观的偶像，也是该岛生物文化遗产的重要组成部分。它们是地中海原产地，但在过去的2000年中，它们已反复介绍给英国。现在，它们比过去的任何时候都要多，并且过度放弃了景观和禁止林地再生，这损害了人口的福利和更广泛的生物多样性。挑战是有争议的，但目前是唯一可行的人口管理策略。鹿缠扰者由于缺乏训练而下降，并且由于年轻一代对鹿的攻击有负面看法。确实，对负面宣传的恐惧是鹿管理组织的关注，这进一步抑制了有关该主题的论述。鹿剔除和鹿肉消费的文化厌恶是由国家食品战略体现的，该战略将野生动物视为人类消费量之外的野生动物。因此，大多数野生鹿肉都以低廉的价格丢弃或出口。相比之下，超级市场的​​鹿肉价格昂贵，通常来自位于新西兰的鹿农场。政府资助的鹿倡议（1995-2020）和Defra的2022年鹿管理咨询都强调，野生鹿肉是负担得起的，健康，健康，高福利，可持续性，可持续性，可持续性和必要鹿的产品。然而，这种消息传递尚未与公众联系。我们由AHRC资助的项目达马国际（Dama International）产生了缺失的叙述，以使其背景下的休耕鹿管理，并以一种引人入胜且可口的方式呈现。它表明，现代休耕鹿是从公元建立的人口降落的，作为中世纪狩猎文化的一部分。该物种主要是由妇女狩猎的，鹿尸体是习惯屠杀或“未修饰”的，在整个社会中重新分配了鹿肉，以促进社区凝聚力。为了保护鹿肉供应，在公园里管理了休耕鹿，而顶级捕食者（熊和狼）被消除了。逐渐地，狩猎和鹿肉过时，休养鹿从公园逃脱了，在没有顶级捕食者的情况下，他们的人口迅速发展。从本质上讲，现代的休养鹿问题是中世纪时期的遗产。Fair游戏将以苏塞克斯作为概念验证区域来证明Dama International的研究如何为鹿管理的棘手问题提供解决方案。我们将通过在中世纪式的狩猎，尸体加工和鹿肉重新分配中恢复中世纪式的方法来做到这一点，通过：通过为鹿管理和游戏卫生课程培养鹿缠扰者的更多样化的人口统计学，旨在为年轻人和妇女提供供应的静脉和供应，以供纳入的货物供应，以供纳入的货物融合，以供货币融合量。通过Food Charity Fareshare。提供引人入胜的沟通策略（动画电影和弹出式展览），解释了休耕鹿的历史，抢购它们的需求以及其鹿肉的社会益处。鉴于生物多样性危机，生活成本，生活危机以及对食品银行的需求不断提高，因此及时地是及时的。我们认为公平的游戏将改变公众的理解，并最终改变该行业的鹿管理方法。