Video: Frightened baby deer rescued in Wealden after being trapped in a 3ft hole

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) received a call on Friday (July 15) morning, after a resident in Blackboys could hear a deer struggling and screaming in some bushes.

The very young baby fallow deer was about 3ft down a hole in an underground channel in the rock inside the bank of a small river.

The underground passage was flooded and earth had collapsed down inside and the deer was thought to have fallen in.

The deer had no way of escaping and WRAS said the deer would have died if the residents had not heard the deer’s distressed calls.

A local deer warden attended and assessed the situation, before WRAS’s founder Trevor Weeks MBE and rescuer Ellie Langridge attended on site in one of WRAS’s emergency response ambulances, as the case proved to be more difficult then first thought.

Trevor climbed down the back of the stream onto some rocks and an old weir and attempted to reach down to the deer.

The frightened deer started screaming and jumping trying to get out which allowed Trevor to grab the top of the front legs and chest, meaning he could lift the deer up and out of the hole.

In the process of trying to grab the deer Trevor slipped bruising a rib on the stone embankment.

Trevor regained his footing and lifted the deer up and out so he could hold the deer securely against his chest, allowing Ellie to cover the baby’s head with a pillow case to help reduce stress.

The baby deer’s mother was seen several times by the residents and the WRAS crew whilst on site and decision was made to reunite the two.

To ensure the human scent didn’t put mum off, rescuers rubbed earth over the deer’s body to remove any unusual smells.

The baby was placed next to some bushes, where it had plenty of cover, close to where the mum was last seen to help reunite them.

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East Sussex WRAS is one of the biggest wildlife hospitals in the South East and has plans to build a new Casualty Centre in the heart of East Sussex which will cost in the region of £2-3 million.