Young deer maimed after being found trapped on wire fencing in Telford

Walkers came across the frightened fawn with its hind leg “cut to the bone” scissored onto a double strand of wire at the top of a 3ft high stock fence on grassland at the edge of Bluebell Woods, near Wellington, on Sunday 19 November.

Jill Thomas and her daughter Ros, of nearby New Works, who were walking in the woods, tried to use a walking stick to free the terrified animal but the wire was twisted too tightly around its leg.

Dog walker Peter Whittle phoned his wife who brought wire cutters which freed the fawn.

“It’s probably not going to survive,” said Mr Whittle, a retired director at GKN engineering.

“There is no need for this double strand of wire. It’s catching and killing many wild deer.”

They are calling for the double stranded wire, some of it barbed wire, in large stretches of new fencing along farmland and woodland on the former open cast coal site to be removed to protect young deer.

“The fence is too high for young deer to jump over and then they get caught in this double strand of wire. This is the second fawn I’ve seen trapped this year,” said Mrs Thomas.

“When this latest fawn was freed it collapsed in a heap and staggered away on three legs. We did what we could. It’s up to nature now.”

In May this year, Shropshire Wildlife Trust removed metres of old and rusty barbed wire from nearby woodland but called for the new double stranded wire to be removed from new fencing as it posed a danger to wildlife.

The identity of the landowner on which the recent incident occurred is unclear as the land in the area has multiple owners.

Cllr Jacqui Seymour has been in touch with authorities to track down the landowners responsible.