Firefighters rescue stuck deer in Lai Chi Kok
The Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden has called on the government to develop animal-friendly fencing after a young barking deer was rescued on Wednesday in Lai Chi Kok. The Fire Services Department said it took 10 firefighters an hour to free the deer which was stuck in a fence after they arrived at Caldecott Road, near the Butterfly Valley Fresh Water Primary Service Reservoir, at 6.55am. The male deer, weighing about 19 kilogrammes and about a year old, had superficial injuries, and was sent to Kadoorie Farm for treatment. "We found a large area of lesion on the flank of the animal, and some mild bruising on the belly," Bibi Wan, a Kadoorie Farm conservation officer, told RTHK. "When a deer gets stressed or scared, it will run. Sometimes it thinks it can pass through a rail, but it [can get] stuck." The wildlife expert added that barking deer are "sensitive" species, so they can easily develop what is known as “capture myopathy”. "If they [have] capture myopathy, they freeze, they can't move,” she said.  "The first thing of course is to stay away from the deer….Do not try to touch it, pat it, comfort it. Do not take photos with flash." Wan said the first thing after spotting a trapped deer should be to call the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for animal rescue. She also called on the government to develop wildlife-friendly fences that animals can easily pass through or will not get stuck in.  The conservation officer added that one-third of the rescued deer received by the farm in recent years had been trapped in fences.