Deer roaming the Christchurch suburb of Halswell were likely looking for “greener pastures” following a harsh winter, an expert says.
Police said it had received “several reports” of deer being seen in Halswell yesterday, including one involving a deer being hit by a car.
The driver was “OK” following the incident, but their vehicle was “a bit damaged”, police said.
John Furlong from the North Canterbury Deerstalkers’ Association told Breakfast it was “not that unusual” for animals to make their way into suburbs near farmland searching for food.
“Halswell is bordered by farmland, so these wild deer would have been sitting up in the hills this winter following a pretty cold snap, looked down the hill and seen the green pastures of people’s houses and backyards.
“For these deer it’s like a supermarket [after] what has been a pretty hard winter.”
“These deer have competed with cattle and sheep on this farmland and there’s nothing stopping them having a good feed in someone’s backyard,” he said.
CCTV footage shows the deer wandering the streets of Halswell around 1pm. (Source: Supplied)
He said the deer would only be a “couple of years old”, and were not naturally aggressive, but could panic if cornered.
Furlong said he was aware of deer sightings in urban areas in previous years and reminded people “not to take things into their own hands” by approaching them.
“As you saw from some of the footage, they can leap high fences and have no problem getting themselves out.”
“Although these weren’t huge animals, they can do some damage if you drive into them.”
