The season of love is upon us at Phoenix Park as horny stags try to impress females by crashing their antlers together with rival stags.
Rutting season is in full swing but visitors to the park are being urged not to take selfies when the large, testosterone-fuelled stags are in action.
The stags can be very dangerous during mating season and the DSPCA has warned people to stay out of sight and keep their cameras away during this of year.
Spokeswoman Gillian Bird told The Irish Daily Mirror: “The message to anyone out there who wants to put pictures on Instagram is please don’t start the trend of photographing yourself with the deer in the background – leave them alone.
“In the past it has been a trend but we don’t want people ever approaching the deer – they can be quite big and scary.”
Feeding the animals and taking snaps with then is a popular pursuit, especially for tourists.
But mating season, which runs until early December can be a dangerous time.
An angry deer butted a woman in the Phoenix Park as she tried to take a selfie back in September 2017 but Ms Bird said incidents are surprisingly rare. She added: “I’m surprised we haven’t had more bad situations with people getting into trouble – or maybe we just don’t hear about them as people don’t report it.
“People approach the animals for pictures or sometimes with dogs that are not on leads and there are also people who mean to do them harm.
“We’re more worried about the deer – they get used to humans and associate them with food. It gets them into bad habits of approaching humans.
Ms Bird also said visitors should never feed deer. Apples and carrots can get caught in their throat and they’re much happier on their usual diet of grass, leaves, acorns, mushrooms and tree bark.
Ms Bird added: “Please stay away unless they need our help. They’re wild animals.”
Park visitors are also told to be especially careful during May, June and July when new mums are protecting their young.
