Elderly Clissold Park deer to retire to Devon to make way for young buck

Out on his antler?: The Clissold Park buck. Photograph: Hackney Council

What city dweller doesn’t dream of retiring to pastures green?

Now old deer in Clissold Park are to be selected for “relocation” to Devon and will be replaced by younger individuals, Hackney Council has announced.

The captive herd of fallow deer in the park’s small, council-run menagerie is one of the most popular feature of the Stoke Newington green space.

In a notice released today, the council’s press office proclaimed: “Deer have lived in the park since 1890, just one year after the park was opened.

“Fallow deer typically live for around 10-12 years and several of ours are now getting quite old, so every few years new deer are brought in to replace older ones.

“We have a non-breeding herd, which means that there are no natural replacements for the elderly deer.

“This winter the herd will be examined by our specialist deer vet, and some of the older deer will be selected for relocation. Before they are removed, five young deer will be introduced to the herd as replacements.

“The older deer will be moved by specialists, under the supervision of the vet, and taken to a private deer park in Devon to live out the rest of their natural lives in a quiet environment where there is much less disturbance than in Clissold Park.”

The Hackney Citizen has asked the council for information about the cost of rehoming the deer, the price (per deer) of the new deer and where the animals will be coming from.

Last year the council proposed killing foxes whose burrows were harming the deer – before hastily backtracking on this idea.