Thursday, 22nd August, 2002 12:00 BST
Forest wildlife - deer | |
|  | | Fallow deer |
| | There are several breeds of deer in the Forset. The most common are Fallow Deer, which have distinctive black markings around the tail. They are usually seen in the northern part of the Forest and often graze in open areas. |
| | | Perhaps the most striking are the Red Deer. They are the largest but are rarely seen. You might see them at Ashurst in the early morning.
 | | A deer is bottle fed by a New Forest Keeper |
Up to 800 deer are culled each year.
The cull is necessary because there is no natural predator to control numbers.
Forest Keepers shoot them in order to control the size of the deer population in the Forest.
The Keepers, however, often show their softer side and have been known to hand rear foals which have lost their mothers.
Two foreign breeds were introduced during the nineteenth century. Japanese Sika Deer, which live to the south of the railway line are shy and tend to stay in woodland. Chinese Muntjac deer are present in small numbers but they are small and difficult to see.
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