Albino Fallow deer spotted in Sussex

23/04/2009 10:26:41 Albino Deer rescued from rope swing in Sussex.

April 2009. Volunteer rescuers had a surprise when they went to rescue a deer that was caught in a rope swing in some Sussex woods. To their amazement the deer, a male fallow deer, was completely white and is thought to be a very rare albino.

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) were called out on Wednesday 22nd April to a deer caught in a rope. Volunteer rescuers Trevor Weeks and Kathy Martyn from Uckfield and Tony Neads from Polegate attended on site. The completely white male fallow deer had its antlers caught in a rope swing in woodland, and the deer was thrashing around at the top of a 20ft sheer drop to a stream.

Rescuers managed to get a special net round the deer to help secure the animal. Tony was then able to hold the antlers to secure the deer's head, allowing Trevor to grab the rear legs and pin the deer to the ground. This allowed the rescuers to cut the rope away from the deer's antlers.

Time very limited
"You only have a 30 minute window once you have caught the deer to cut it free 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 his ability to move about, but we still needed to be very careful of the antlers and legs flying about."

Luckily, once caught, the deer took just 10 minutes to cut the rope and unravel the entangled antlers. Once free, Tony had to clear away the rope from the trees to prevent the deer becoming entangled again on release. Trevor checked over the deer to ensure there were no injuries. Tony and Kathy then stood clear while Trevor uncovered the deer's head, before he stood aside, allowing the deer to jump up and run off back to the wild. Trevor then removed the remains of the rope swing.

Albino
"This is the first time WRAS has been called to a white deer which we think was probably an albino. The nose, eyes and even the deer hooves were more red then usual. True albino deer are extremely rare but we do believe that this might actually be one. Frequently very light coated fallow deer are seen but they are leucistic deer (Click here to read more about leucism) rather than albinos, showing darker coat colouration elsewhere on the body; 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 year.

Courtesy of WRAS.