Injured deer hit on the backside by car rescued from ditch
A deer was rescued from a ditch in Oakwood[1] after it was hit by a car. Derbyshire police[2] were called to the fallow doe and contacted a local volunteer group to save the stranded animal.
The call came in at around 11pm on Tuesday evening, April 11. The doe is now under the careful watch and care of Lindsey Newell at Linjoy Wildlife Sanctuary & Rescue in Etwall,[3] who is nursing it back to full health.
Lindsey said: "She's showing signs of improvement and looking ten times better. When she got here she was just sprawled out on the hay but now she's looking around, drinking, eating and standing for short periods. We've just got to wait until she's ready until we take her back, which could take a week or so."
It's unclear whether the initial phone call to police was made by the motorist who had hit the deer or by a member of the public. But upon finding the deer alive, while shocked and unable to move, the police got in touch with Lindsey, who rang a volunteer, Mark Walker, to help.
He attended the scene and with the help of officers, heaved the deer into a cage and onto his pickup truck. He then met Lindsey and transferred the doe into her safe hands for rehabilitation.
An assessment the next day found the doe had no broken bones, just "really sore" bruising and visible tarmac burns. It had been hit on the backside and Lindsey prescribed medicine specifically to treat shock and pain relief for the young deer.
The doe was put on shock and pain medication when it first got to the sanctuary (Image: Linjoy Wildlife Sanctuary & Rescue)
Now recuperating in a bed of hay and straw to try and reduce her stress levels, the deer is only visited minimally by Lindsey to check up on and medicate her. Otherwise, they leave her alone, so as to "let her get on with it" and not harass her.
Fallow deer are some of the most common in the UK. They are bigger than muntjac deer, which are found regularly in Derby and surrounding areas, but smaller than red deer.
Lindsey says there must be a herd near Oakwood because they'd had a callout the previous day and also received a call just a few months back of another injured deer. They tend to move around mostly at night, which makes them more likely to be hit.
"If you hit a deer, our advice is to either call the police, especially if it's on a known main road, or call an organisation like us that is 24 hours," says Lindsey. "If it's badly damaged it can be put to sleep to end its suffering, or if it's not, we can collect them."
Lindsey runs the Linjoy sanctuary and rescue centre full-time on a voluntary basis. They solely look after wild animals that have been abandoned by keepers or injured and aim to nurse them back to health and release them when they're well enough.
Some stay in Lindsey's care for their whole life. She's on-call twenty-four hours per day for animals in need.
"If we didn't exist, I don't think the police would know what to do," she said. "They'd probably just put most injured deer down. A lot of deer are shot when they're injured because there's no one to care for them.
"If you ring us we will come out. My phone's always on. I'm awake until late anyway but if my phone goes I will answer it."
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References
- ^ ditch in Oakwood (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Derbyshire police (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Etwall, (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Dad-of-two drove Kia car at 70mph in Derbyshire 30mph zone to escape from police (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Sign up to the Derbyshire Live newsletter here. (data.reachplc.com)