Upsetting Deer Rescue at Burwash

On Tuesday afternoon East Sussex WRAS received a call from a lady walking her dogs in woodland at Burwash, which turned into a very upsetting rescue.

Rescuers Trevor Weeks and Chris Riddington rushed across to Burwash where a lady had found a fallow deer injured and staggering around in the woods. Once on site rescuers managed to catch and assess the deer which had a nasty rear leg injury.

Emergency medication was given out on site before being rushed back to WRAS's Casualty Care Centre.

Sadly the deer was in a bad way. The lower section of the rear leg was missing. The most likely cause was being caught in stock fencing. this leg had become heavily infected of time. There were fly eggs and maggots attracted to the horrendous smell. The deer was severely emaciated and predators had clearly had a got too whilst in such a vulnerable condition. With an operation just not possible in such a critical condition vets recommended euthanasia. This is why wildlife rescue centre can't have a no kill policy, it would have been cruel to keep this animal alive. Still a successful outcome, but an extremely sad and emotional outcome for everyone involved. Yet another life lost by human activity.

When erecting Stock Fencing, it is important to check where deer paths cross. Where they intersect the fence line, place horiontal wooden bars between two fence posts which will then help prevent deer catching their legs in the fencing as they jump over.

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