Lifeguards on jetskis rescued a pair of feral deer that washed into the ocean on the New South Wales south coast.
Council lifeguards were alerted to three deer running at a dog beach at Fairy Meadow just north of Wollongong at 9am on Thursday.
They then swam up to North Wollongong beach where two of the deer became stranded on rocks.
Just when you thought the deer problem couldn’t get any worse, 2 rescued by @Wollongong_City lifeguards off North Gong Beach this morning. They couldn’t swim! 😱🦌💦 pic.twitter.com/SRMB0ukL9J
— Nick McLaren (@nickpmclaren) July 4, 2019
The frightened animals then jumped into the water as NSW Fire and Rescue attempted to save them.
“We attempted to go out and scare them back [on to the beach],” senior firefighter George Misios from NSW Fire and Rescue Wollongong told 7NEWS. “Unfortunately, they decided to go the other way.”
The deer were rescued by Wollongong council lifeguards who steered the pair of feral animals back to shore using jetskis.
A spokesperson for Wollongong city council said in a statement one of the deer was believed to have then run into nearby bushland at Puckeys Estate, while another deer climbed on to an embankment near Continental Pool.
“Due to concerns for both the animal’s welfare and community safety – as the deer was alongside Cliff Road and the Blue Mile tramway shared pathway – the area was cordoned off to ensure public safety and the animal tranquilised on-site by an appropriately qualified contractor,” the spokesperson said. “Once tranquillised, it was euthanised.”
The fate of the second deer is unclear.
Guardian Australia attempted to contact NSW Fire & Rescue, which was called in because the animals are classified as feral.
Due to the sheer number of deer in the Illawarra region, professional pest controllers have been culling deer since 2011. According to the council nearly 3,000 deer have been culled, with 739 recorded culls in 2017.
Deer hunting regulations have also been suspended in order to reduce the number of deer in the region, but hunters must hold a game hunting licence and follow the rules set out by the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
The council spokesperson said feral dear are in “rutting season” at this time of year, and are more likely to roam.
