Rare white albino deer rescued from rope swing
By Mike Swain on Apr 23, 09 05:51 PM in Environment
This very rare white albino deer had to be rescued when it got entangled in a swing in woodland.
Volunteer rescuers Trevor Weeks and Kathy Martyn from East Sussex Wildlife rescue and Ambulance service and Tony Neads from Polegate found the male fallow deer with its antlers caught.
They believe it is an extremely rare white albino.
Rescuers managed to get a special net round the deer to help secure the animal. With the deer secure on the ground, Trevor held the antlers whilst Tony and Kathy started cutting the antlers free from the rope.
"You have a 30minute window once you have caught the deer to cut it free from these situation or they become too stressed and can die" said Trevor Weeks Rescue Co-ordinator for WRAS.
"It was certainly a challenging environment to work in and for once I was actually quite worried about how we were going to catch and secure the deer safely without injury to ourselves.
"On one side there was a sheer drop of about 20ft into a stream and barbed wire on the ground. Luckily the deer had already wrapped the rope round a couple of trees restricting the deers ability to move about but you still need to be very careful of the antlers and legs flying about."
"This is the first time WRAS has been called to a white deer which we think might also be an albino deer. The nose, eyes and even the deer hooves were more red then usual. True albino deer are extremely rare but we think this might actually be one. Frequently very light coated fallow deer are seen but they are not true albino deer showing darker coat colouration elsewhere on the body but this deer was the same white colour all over" said Trevor.
Rope swings are a danger in woodlands for deer and WRAS has rescued several from around East Sussex over the past five years.
By Mike Swain on Apr 23, 09 05:51 PM in Environment
This very rare white albino deer had to be rescued when it got entangled in a swing in woodland.
Volunteer rescuers Trevor Weeks and Kathy Martyn from East Sussex Wildlife rescue and Ambulance service and Tony Neads from Polegate found the male fallow deer with its antlers caught.
They believe it is an extremely rare white albino.
Rescuers managed to get a special net round the deer to help secure the animal. With the deer secure on the ground, Trevor held the antlers whilst Tony and Kathy started cutting the antlers free from the rope.
"You have a 30minute window once you have caught the deer to cut it free from these situation or they become too stressed and can die" said Trevor Weeks Rescue Co-ordinator for WRAS.
"It was certainly a challenging environment to work in and for once I was actually quite worried about how we were going to catch and secure the deer safely without injury to ourselves.
"On one side there was a sheer drop of about 20ft into a stream and barbed wire on the ground. Luckily the deer had already wrapped the rope round a couple of trees restricting the deers ability to move about but you still need to be very careful of the antlers and legs flying about."
"This is the first time WRAS has been called to a white deer which we think might also be an albino deer. The nose, eyes and even the deer hooves were more red then usual. True albino deer are extremely rare but we think this might actually be one. Frequently very light coated fallow deer are seen but they are not true albino deer showing darker coat colouration elsewhere on the body but this deer was the same white colour all over" said Trevor.
Rope swings are a danger in woodlands for deer and WRAS has rescued several from around East Sussex over the past five years.
