Two baby deer rescued in two days

A baby roe deer and a baby fallow deer have both been rescued over the past 48 hours in East Sussex.

The little baby roe deer was delivered to WRAS on Sunday (28th June 2009). She had been picked up 2 days earlier near Haywards Heath by a landowner who found her in a field thought to have been abandoned. The dehydrated baby deer was given emergency treatment by East Sussex WRAS volunteers Trevor Weeks and Kathy Martyn before being rushed up to specialists at St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

The little baby fallow deer was rescued at Furners Green between Sheffield Park and Dane Hill at 11pm last night (Monday 29th June 2009). WRAS volunteer Kathy Martyn from Uckfield and Trevor Weeks had to crawl on their hands and knees through a hedgerow in order to catch the baby fallow deer which had a rear leg caught up in a strand of electric fencing.

"This poor little male though to be less than a week old had a nasty series of injuries to one of its rear legs and the ligature wound caused by the wire had cut off the blood supply and the lower leg was dry and dead" said Kathy.

WRAS rescuers gave emergency medication under veterinary advice late last night and transported him up to St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital for emergency treatment. Trevor and Kathy arrived at about 2.30am, where veterinary staff were on hand to help treat the deer straight away. Kathy and Trevor eventually returned home about 6am after a very long day and night.

"Unfortunately this deer will have to be operated on and have its damaged rear leg removed but should recover and be able to be released into a domesticated herd of deer, thanks to the staff at St Tiggywinkles" said Trevor.

WRAS is urging people who find baby deer hidden in long grass or bushes to back off slowly and calmly and leave the little deer alone as mum is probably not far away and you could cause the baby to be abandoned. "The parent deer do not spent much time with their young babies as they do not want to attract foxes and other predators. If you find a baby deer which is injured or out wandering in short grassland then call for advice before touching to ensure you are doing the right thing" said Trevor.

Video footage of the WRAS rescuers giving vital fluids to the baby roe deer can be viewed on WRAS's You Tube channel www.youtube.com/user/EastSussexWRAS. And photos of the baby Fallow deer can be seen at WRAS Twitpic site www.twitpic.com/photos/eastsussexwras.

"We would like to thank all our supporters and volunteers for all there hard work at this very busy time of year and ask people to be patient with our service during these busy periods. Kathy and I returned home at 3am on Monday morning and 6am on Tuesday morning after working all day and dealing with casualties too. All our volunteer rescuers and carers are extremely busy and very tired but we are trying our best to help as many people as we can" explained Trevor.

Anyone wanting to make a donation to WRAS can do so online or post a donation to East Sussex WRAS, Po Box 2148, Seaford, East Sussex, BN25 9DE.

Anyone wanting further information about St Tiggywinkles or would like to donate to St Tiggywinkles can visit www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk.

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Press Contact: Trevor Weeks, East Sussex WRAS, 07931 523958

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