I was in Lake Gardens this week (Dec 2008) and noticed a lot of changes i.e. development. Decided to go to the deer park to see if I could get some photos to build up my library. I was in for a shock.
Entering the area, I had to jump across a large amount of water which was flooding the footpath. Then I went past 2 or 3 cages of mousedeer. It was impossible to take photos due to 2 layers of close mesh netting. The mouse deer were living on earth and had fresh trays of chopped carrots but few were eating.
The path led up to some stairs and a raised walkway. Here there were lots of macaques. Luckily they weren't really interested in me once they saw I had no food. One was picking at a jackfruit still attached to the tree.
Then I saw something mystifying. There was a caged tunnel running alongside the path I had walked, and inside was a very moth eaten deer. It's coat looked quite bad and it had 3 large open sores on its rump, a large wound on its front right leg and several older sores along the right flank.
Some vegetables had been put in the mud at the end of the tunnel under the raised walkway. The macaques were trying to get at this food, and one succeeded, it had obviously found a hole in the fencing. I couldn't understand why this poor deer was isolated in this tunnel.
I continued along the walkway and soon smelt a strong smell. It was the main deer enclosure. I have no idea why the smell was so strong, considering the enclosure is totally open and the deer were some way away. These deer were a different type from the one in the tunnel. They looked relatively OK, but I noticed they had no water to drink, and some were drinking water from a puddle in the hut, you can see this puddle in the photo with the blue roofed hut.
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Quote:"I have no idea why the smell was so strong.It's coat looked quite bad and it had 3 large open sores on its rump, a large wound on its front right leg and several older sores along the right flank."
ReplyDeleteThe smell must have come from the rotten fresh and decomposed facets. The wounds are favourites of house flies. There must be thousands of fly larvae on the wounds. This should be reported to the animal cruelty society. Like I say no animal or butterfly in cages. Look after the natural habitats instead.
You could be right, although the smell seemed to be coming from the main enclosure, not where the caged deer was. I'm going to the SPCA tomorrow for a Christmas party, so I will tell them about it.
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