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Urban deer not so rare
I was interested to see the article on the sighting of a ‘baby deer’ (Baby deer spotted on way to shops, Oct12) and I think I can suggest what the astonished cyclist may have seen.
I think it is very likely that the animal seen was not an immature roe deer but an adult muntjac deer; the description of the creatures size and ‘small antlers’ fit my theory.
I am surprised that the London Wildlife Trust have no records of urban deer as there use to be a small colony of muntjacs in the Branch Hill area in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they were often spotted and one was reported killed by a car on Branch Hill (if I remember correctly reported in the CNJ at the time).
I believe muntjacs originate from the Orient but there are several feral populations in Britain. In fact I see them nearly every time I travel up to Norfolk though the Thetford Forest. These tiny deer are quite capable of surviving on overgrown railway embankments or in parks and I suspect that there may still be a few around in north Camden.
JOHN WALSH
Belsize Square, NW3
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