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Campaigns Reduced Deer Feeding in Phoenix Park Only Briefly

Visitor feeding a European fallow deer in Phoenix Park, Dublin
Conservation · Management

A seven-year study in Dublin’s Phoenix Park found that campaigns against feeding European fallow deer (Dama dama) reduced the behaviour only temporarily. Researchers followed human–deer interactions from 2018 to 2024 while the park introduced progressively larger efforts to discourage visitors from feeding the deer.

The study combined 432 early-summer herd observations collected across the seven years with an independent biweekly dataset containing 1,035 observations from 2021 to 2024. Measures introduced in 2019, including signs, posters and ranger patrols, were followed by a short-term drop in feeding. A media campaign in 2021 also reduced feeding initially, but the reductions did not persist and feeding later returned toward previous levels.

The largest campaign produced only a temporary effect

In 2024, managers combined internal measures and a large media campaign costing more than €50,000—about seven times the spending of earlier campaigns. The independent surveys nevertheless found no reduction in feeding, and recorded the highest levels since 2021.

One-off campaigns were unlikely to change behaviour for long

The authors conclude that one-off information campaigns are unlikely to produce lasting changes in this type of human–wildlife interaction. The three campaigns occurred before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when park access and visitor audiences changed, and the authors treat that shifting social context as part of why management outcomes cannot be understood from campaign spending or information alone. They argue that management requires continued attention, long-term monitoring and interdisciplinary approaches involving managers, social scientists, communication specialists and other stakeholders.

Sources and image credit

  1. Faull, J., Griffin, L. L., Nolan, G., Haigh, A., David, A., Redmond, S., Collins, N., McDonnell, P., Kane, A., & Ciuti, S. (2026). If you leave it, you lose it: Managing human–wildlife feeding interactions requires constant attention, interdisciplinary approaches and long-term monitoring. People and Nature, 8, 666–681. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70222Primary research article first published 22 January 2026. The seven-year Phoenix Park study used 432 early-summer herd observations from 2018–2024 and an independent dataset of 1,035 observations from 2021–2024. Management efforts in 2019 and 2021 reduced visitor feeding in the short term, but the effects did not persist. A combined campaign in 2024 costing more than €50,000 did not reduce feeding in the independent surveys, which recorded the highest levels since 2021.

Image: Ertly — fallow deer–human interaction photographed in Phoenix Park, Dublin, on 17 July 2024; directly relevant to the study of visitor feeding in the park. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY 4.0 · Source

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