Footage of a fallow buck entangled in electric fencing on a woman's property in Hailsham has been released to illustrate the dangers of rescuing an animal in such conditions.
The buck was discovered by the woman on her property in Sandhill Lane, Bodle Street Green near Hailsham on Tuesday morning (Feb 15).
She called East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (East Sussex WRAS) who sent two veterinary ambulances, including one of their technical rescue ambulances from their hospital at Whitesmith.
Rescuers Trevor Weeks, Katie Nunn Nash, Keith Ring, Ellie Langridge and Andy May attended.
"The deer was well entangled but luckily had been swinging round a tree which was restricting the distance in which the deer could move. The flat electric rope often use to divide horse fields into smaller paddocks was luckily turned off," explained WRAS founder Trevor Weeks MBE.
A special walk-to-wards net was used to entangle the deer to gain control the fallow buck which was thrashing around trying to get free.
Mr Weeks explains:
The most dangerous part is gaining control of such a deer. Once the deer's movements had been restricted using the walk-to-wards net, Keith grabbed the antlers, Trevor grabbed the rear legs and once on the floor, Katie jumped onto the back and shoulders of the deer. This allowed Andy and Ellie to start working on removing the huge amount of rope attached to the antlers.
These rescues have to be done quickly to avoid the deer having a heart attack, which can happen within 30 minutes of rescuers securing such a deer.
This rescue took less than 8 minutes.
Once cut free and the rescue net removed, rescuers released the deer in a co-ordinated manner to avoid injury.
"The deer ran off strongly across the field and didn't look back," said Trevor.
East Sussex WRAS urges people not to attempt such rescues themselves as they are dangerous and can have fatal consequences for humans and the deer.
WRAS advises people to not cut them free and to keep their distance and to call their local wildlife rescue service for help and advice.
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