Deer savages dogs – and no, this is not an April Fool joke
When it comes to a fight between a dog and a cute little deer, you would expect there to be no contest.
And you’d be right. Rover limps home with his tail between his legs – and some nasty gashes into the bargain.
An increasing number of dog-owners in rural Bedfordshire are reporting attacks by Chinese water deer, whose ancestors escaped Woburn Safari Park.
Attack: Perdita suffered deep lacerations on her back, belly and neckAlthough the deer are less than 2ft tall and weigh a maximum of 31lb, the males have a secret weapon – downward-pointing fangs which can grow more than 3in long.
Vicious bite: Chinese water deer males fight with tusks that grow up to 3in longIt was only when the children’s father Loren took the dog to a vet that they realised she had apparently fallen victim to a serial-attack deer. The same vet had already treated five dogs in a similar condition.
Mr Robey, a 43-year-old electrician, said his son and daughter came back ‘distraught’ from their walk in Ampthill Park, between Bedford and Luton, with Perdita bleeding from her wounds.
‘My first thought was that she must have got caught in a barbed-wire fence but the vet put it down to Chinese water deer.’
John Wakely, of Ridgeway Veterinary Centre, Flitwick, said: ‘In 30 years as a vet I have never seen this before. But I have treated three dogs in the past two weeks and two before Christmas.’
Mr Wakely has now put up notices in the park which warn dog owners to beware.
Ampthill park committee chairman Hector Chappell said a ‘huge’ Chinese water deer population had sprung up since they began to escape in the 1920s and 1930s.
‘They breed throughout the year and are quite a menace. You don’t normally see them except at dusk because they lie down during day as their natural colouring camouflages them in the long grass. If a dog disturbed them they would bite.’
Local vet John Wakely tended to Perdita after the attack
SOURCE
Tags: Animals, April Fool joke, Deer, dogs, savages
April 14th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I was out walking my dog in ampthill park today and my poor dog came back to me coverd in blood Mr wakely had stitch him up too! those deer need to be court and taken to a place they can be safe from dogs and dogs safe from them! My children where destrought something must be done i have to pay my pet insurance fees every month (thank god for them) but my bill is still gonna be high! and i pay my cancil tax i want something done!!!
May 12th, 2009 at 1:18 am
The deer were there long before you or your dog were. Maybe you need to be rounded up and put somewhere where your stupidity can’t hurt anyone else. Get a dog that isn’t so weeny or keep it on a leash.