Very sad news!
To everyone who is not aware, a pure white fallow deer buck was filmed by a local guy and then a still was taken from the film and sent to the local Forester newspaper.
This would have been fine if the location had not been printed, but to say that he was filmed in the woods at ?????? ?????, kind of narrows down the vicinity in which he lives!
A national newspaper has picked up the story and is also using it! The problem now is that this deer will have a huge price on its head and there are too many people out there, which will hunt him and kill him for money.
I know the person who filmed him and he is a genuine nice person with a massive passion for our wildlife. He loves to go out filming our wildlife around the forest and would never intentionally do anything to harm it.
The editor responsible for printing its location in the Forester should have known better. It would have made no difference to the article if he had left the location out?
Very sad day, as this magnificent beast is only around 4 years old and probably won't see 5!
I could have gone public with my pics and video, could have made a lot of money also, but it would have been blood money and this is why I have never done it.
I have filmed him and photographed him many times and I have even posted his pics on here, but I have never given his location away.
The Forest of Dean covers over 42sq miles, so reporting a rare sighting does not jeopardise the subject’s safety unless you give the vicinity or exact location away.
I have said this before, in one of my recent posts... The media can be a great and effective tool in looking out for and protecting our wildlife, but it can also be the worse enemy any animal could possible have, if used in the wrong way.
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Hi Rob, do you think that a thing so beautiful, would anyone shoot at, or got harassed.
ReplyDeleteHi Bob,
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that they are rare and there are a lot of people who will pay thousands of pounds to see his head above the fireplace in their stately home!
There is an awful amount of poaching going on around the forest and this beast would be an opportunity that they would not want to miss.
We shoot these lovely animals through the lens of our camera, but there are too many, which sadly view them through crosshairs!
hi rob i quiet agree and probly your right the guy who gave the photos out is very pasionate and did not understand the likelyhood what can happen lets just hope ,but i was very miffed the other day as we both knew about the fella and took pics etc but did not disclose it ,lets just hope ,hope ,hope ? regards brian
ReplyDeleteYes Brian, lets hope!
ReplyDeleteAs you said, we could have made a few quid out of advertising this animal, but we would rather see him in the forest where he belongs, not dead with his head on someone's wall!
Hopefully people will learn from this, but I feel it will be too late for this deer.
Hi Rob
ReplyDeletescary thoughts indeed
One sorta hopes that someone could capture the Stag, spray him with a temporary brown stuff... no one would spot him then. the fuss would die(dye) down. The colour would work it's way off then peace and tranquility could return to the FoD.
As far as i am concerned anyone putting a price on such a beauty and those who would take up that price should be shot themselves.
Keep up the good fight, Rob. Missing you on FoN