University and National Trust partnership to promote Britain’s wild venison

PA 68/13 It's cheap, healthy and sustainable and its provenance can easily be traced back to its free-range, organic roots. So why aren't we Brits eating more wild venison? Archaeologists at The University of Nottingham are joining forces with the National Trust to promote the benefits of eating the meat by charting the history of fallow deer herds at their properties, starting at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire. The project could offer a solution to the rapidly expanding deer population which has been associated with environmental damage to crops and woodlands and the cause of almost 70,000 accidents on Britain's roads every year. Naomi Sykes, of the University's Department of Archaeology, who is leading the project, says: "We believe that rather than being a 'problem' deer are a wonderful resource, if only we could reconnect with the concept of venison. At a time when locally sourced, seasonal, healthy and ethical foods are at the top of consumers' wish-lists — particularly in the wake of the horsemeat scandal — wild venison ticks every box. Wild deer, or those that have not been supplementary fed, provide exceptionally lean venison and, most importantly, you don't get a more free-range and 'happy' meat." However, the message is not reaching the general public, many of whom find the 'hunting' of deer distasteful and still associate venison with the cuddly Disney cartoon character Bambi. Deer culling has to take place but a lack of demand for the meat means the majority of venison produced in Britain is exported and perversely the little found on British supermarket shelves is from imported farmed deer.