‘People shouldn’t litter’: Whanganui deer seen with shopping bag hooked to antlers

A deer was seen in Peat Street Park, Whanganui, with a shopping bag hooked to its antlers that has since been removed. Photo / Supplied

People are being reminded to be “tidy Kiwis” after a deer became caught in a shopping bag at Whanganui’s Peat Park deer sanctuary.

A member of the public was walking her German shepherd on January 29 when she noticed the bright-red bag connected to the deer’s antlers.

“We went to see the deer and I could see that one struggling, obviously, there wasn’t much I could do at the time, the fence was a bit too high for me to scale,” she said.

She attempted to find someone nearby to help the deer, but had no luck.

When she returned later that evening the deer had been freed from the bag.

New Zealand Deerstalkers Association (NZDA) Whanganui branch president Ian Churchouse said he had received word about the deer the day before, but could not locate the animal.

“If we were to run the deer into the yard there were some pretty major concerns that it would knock its antlers off and need veterinary help or damage himself,” Churchouse said.

Whanganui District Council said deer were not a part of the expertise of its animal control team and contacted the NZDA to resolve the issue.

Churchouse said the park was well managed and had been for about 70 years and this incident was a one-off; however, he did say there was an issue with littering in the area.

“We pick up rubbish at the park regularly, I’ve picked up 22 golf balls and a good bag of rubbish,” he said.

“It was just a timely reminder that people shouldn’t litter – we should all be bloody tidy Kiwis and look after our environment.”