Three deer knocked down on section of Laois road in a single night

A woman and her daughter had to move a deer with a broken back from the middle of a road in Laois before it was euthanised, a council meeting was told. 

The deer was one of three struck by cars in a single night along a stretch of road around Ballybrittas. 

Cllr PJ Kelly raised the issue in a motion at the last meeting of the Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District. 

He asked:  “That Laois County Council erect more warning signs along the stretch of road from Ballybrittas Christmas tree Depot to the Montague Hotel to warn motorists of deer crossing especially during the dark winter months and during rutting season. A huge amount of deer pass through this area and rotate over and back between the motor way and the old Dublin, Cork and Limerick Road.”

Laois Senior Executive Engineer, Philip McVeigh said “Laois County Council is currently arranging for signage to be installed on this section of the R445.”

Cllr Kelly explained that the section of road ran along “an old passageway from the forest in Emo right through to my own area.” 

“During the rutting season there is a huge amount of deer there and with the motorway in place now, a lot of them, they don’t make that full journey. There is a high fence and that stops them, so they stay there. They accumulate there,” he explained.  

“One week there over the Christmas period there was three deer hit over the one night. Two by one vehicle, badly damaged it, and a lady came on it with her young daughter and they stopped on the road and they had to help one of the deer off the middle of the road whose back was broken. It was very traumatic for those people to come on that, especially the woman’s daughter. To see such a lovely animal helpless. It had to be put down humanely afterwards,” said Cllr Kelly.  

“It is a regular area for deer that stretch, it is probably one of the worst areas in the county,” he told the meeting.  

He said there is forestry on both sides of the road there. 

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“A good few people have said it to me. Some of the vehicles get badly damaged,” he remarked. 

Cllr Kelly said he was glad to see the council had already erected poles for the new signage.