A heartwarming story of how an orphaned deer calf has been raised by a Hartland family hit the news this week.
A heartwarming story of how an orphaned deer calf has been raised by a Hartland family hit the news this week.
Just like Bambi, Dave, the red deer stag was orphaned when his mother was poached and shot. He was taken on by Rebecca Gohl on her farm in Swimbridge but people complained because Dave kept escaping. A home was found for him on the Hartland Peninsula with Paul Messenger, who is owner of Beckland Game, ironically perhaps, a deer stalker who sells venison. He is, also, however, Chairman of the British Deer Society in the South West.
Dave did a runner shortly after arriving at Paul’s farm, which led to a flurry of activity on Twitter, trying to track the deer down.
Paul was reported in the North Devon Journal as saying: "I was frantic with worry. I was up at first light and followed prints for what seemed like hours. A man walking along the coast path told me he saw a tame deer. I rushed out to Hartland Point car park to find Dave lording it up. Around 25 holidaymakers were adoring him. I was so relieved."
Perhaps the Hartland Peninsula Society should now create a ‘Dave the Deer’ walk given he seemed to take a highly scenic route!
 |
| This is NOT Dave but is used under creative commons licence taken from http://www.fotopedia.com/users/kc0MkYyFHZw – thanks to Edoardo |