East Ashling resident praises 'professional' fire rescue teams who saved bucking stag

Mark Jeffries said the stag’s antlers were tangled up in another, dead stag's antlers and it was desperate to get free. “It was a bit like a bucking Bronco," he explained.

Not allowed to sedate the animal, he said the fire crews had to line up ‘like Roman soldiers’ with shields in order to advance on the terrified buck and hold it in place. Meanwhile, another team got to work sawing through and untangling the antlers.

“Stags are so athletic and strong. They can jump over twenty feet, easily, and probably six feet high. They're amazing. So the team did really well to face it so calmly.

"The lead two had to come in, co-ordinated from both sides, and hold it down. Then the others came in behind, one on top of the other. It was all quite dramatic, but the plan was really professionally thought through and calmly carried out.”

A spokesperson for West Sussex Fire and Rescue said: “Upon arrival the crew found a deer trapped in the antlers of a deceased deer. The Technical Rescue Unit liaised with the RSPCA and used animal rescue equipment to release the deer back into the wild."

Mr Jeffries added that he didn't know the Fire and Rescue Service responds to calls about distressed wildlife so regularly.

"I had no idea they are routinely called to dangerous situations like that. They're called out to sheep and horses caught in fences and that sort of thing. That would have never occurred to me.”

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