Let them eat venison

INITIATIVES are being established across the UK to get more venison, a ready source of lean, vitamin-rich meat, onto plates. Deer numbers—at about two million—are at their highest level for 1,000 years; landowners report losing more than a million pounds’ worth of crops a year to deer damage, plus they destroy woodland; up to 74,000 deer are involved annually in road-traffic accidents. The obvious solution is a culinary one, but there are challenges.

- Patrick Galbraith

In East Anglia, the new Norfolk Venison Strategy, run by retired farmer and veteran deer manager Michael Anker, has raised funds to hire a dedicated deer coordinator to promote venison through events such as local tastings, to coordinate deer management across the county and to create more efficient supply chains. Elizabeth Meath Baker of the Walsingham Farm Shop says that when locally sourced venison is on their shelves,