Christmas Day Deer Rescue Buxted

Residents of Buxted might have thought Santa and his reindeer had got into trouble this morning, but luckily it turned out to be a buck fallow deer entangled in electric rope in a field behind Buxted Court Buxted.

Volunteer rescuers from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) were called out just after 9am Christmas Day morning after the deer was spotted entangled and unable to get free.

When rescuers arrived a small herd of does (female fallow deer) which were with the buck clearly worried and wondering why he couldn’t get free.

“Looking at the markings on the floor and the state of the deer it was obvious the deer had been caught since the early hours of the morning” said Rescuer Trevor Weeks MBE from Uckfield.

Rescuers Kathy Martyn from Uckfield and Chris Riddington from Eastbourne used a walk to wards net to restrict the movement of the deer allowing experienced rescuer Trevor, to grab hold of the Buck’s rear legs and pull the deer to the ground allowing rescuer Laura Carrick from Eastbourne to throw a blanklet over the deer’s head. Rescuer Chris then took control of the deer’s head and antlers allow Kathy and Laura to cut away the electric rope.

These rescues are never easy and there are many risks if you don’t know what you are doing or get the timing wrong.

Rescuers had a 30 minute window to catch and release the deer or it would potentially have a heart attack.

“We could see the deer had been caught for some time, and was clearly very stressed and tired. Luckily the deer had no injuries and the rope was quickly and efficiently removed using cutting equipment” said Trevor.

In a coordinated effort the deer was release by Chris and Trevor. “We felt so sorry for the deer as it was clearly tired and it struggled to jump over the fence. We watch the deer for a while to ensure it was going to be ok, and after standing in some trees for a while it then ran off out of side recovering from its traumatic ordeal” said Chris.

“WRAS staff and volunteers work over the festive period and you have to be prepared for anything. It was Chris’s day off but he kindly come out as these rescues need experienced people to be safe. It was so nice to see the deer run off and know that whilst everyone is tucking into their Christmas Dinner and opening the festive gifts that this deer will be free and not suffering. For me this is what Christmas is about, giving to and helping others. A huge thank you to all WRAS’s volunteers and Staff for working over Christmas and the New Year” said Trevor Weeks.

END

Press Contacts; Trevor Weeks 01825-873003 or 07931523958.

The attached video is free for use by local media to East Sussex like BBC, Meridian, local newspapers and radio station. For all other use please contact East Sussex WRAS 01825-873003.

RESCUE VIDEO:
Media Version unedited: https://youtu.be/PJg-haB5IdY
Public Version with logo: https://youtu.be/8E1s5zVlO9U

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