Footage captured by an onlooker shows the two stags trying to assert their dominance in Richmond Park last Wednesday. One of the animals gives up and begins to race away – only to slam straight into a visitor’s vehicle. The deer remains in mid-air, leaning against the window of the car for a few seconds before hitting the ground.
It then springs back into action and resumes the fight with its opponent in the park. Lander Esparza Zudaire captured the footage while out for a walk last week. Posting the footage on Twitter, he wrote: ‘I thought I was safe keeping enough distance… but clearly I was wrong.’ Lander added that the stag that ran into the car appeared to be ‘isolated from the surroundings and just focused on fighting’.
Representatives from the Royal Parks have previously warned visitors the animals are not ‘Disney creatures’. They advise people to stay at least 50 metres away from deer and remain aware of their surroundings so they do not come between two rutting stags or a mother and her calf. Rutting season takes place between September and November and sees dominant stags compete to mate with the female deer. Stags are often pumped up with testosterone during this season, meaning visitors could be put at risk. It comes after a singer was kicked by an ‘aggressive’ deer as she posed for photos in Richmond Park amid rutting season. Gemma Louisianna, 28, said she was ‘terrified’ after the animal suddenly shoved her, leaving her with a sore back and ‘a few bruises’.
Metro.co.uk
