That may be a clue to the origin of the feral rusa deer spotted twice in central Sydney this month. Two deer sauntered along in Leichhardt at 7am. Upon capture one needed to be euthanised,the other escaped. Nine days later a female,likely the escapee,was sighted in Pyrmont and on rail tracks near Central station. It too was euthanised. But where did they come from?
There's no rusa deer in Lane Cove National Park says Ryde City Council. Some suggest the Royal National Park,30 kilometres from Sydney. Rusa deer swam to freedom from a waterfront enclosure called Deer Park in 1906 at what is today an Anglican youth conference centre. Their numbers soared thereafter to residents'chagrin.
Sutherland Shire,Lucas Heights or around Heathcote are possibilities according to biosecurity leader Lee Parker of the Greater Sydney Local Land Services with responsibility for pest management.
Mr Parker thinks the deer,probably a hind (female) and yearling,may have been displaced during the mating season that has just finished and suspects Sydney wasn't within their normal range.
"If we don't continue to suppress the deer population we are going to get more occurrences like this,"he said."The hardest thing to deal with is that there is a Bambi factor. Unfortunately people don't have an understanding of the impact deer have."