in the late 19th century, the world's only herd belonged to tongzhi, the emperor of china. the herd was maintained in the nanyuan royal hunting garden in nan haizi, near peking. in 1895, one of the walls of the hunting garden was destroyed by a heavy flood of the yongding river, and most of the deer escaped and some of them were killed and eaten by starving peasants. fewer than thirty père david's deer remained in the garden. then in 1900, during the boxer rebellion, the garden was occupied by troops from the german empire and all the remaining deer were shot and eaten by the soldiers, leaving the père david's deer extinct in its native china.