Visitors to west London’s Richmond Park and Bushy Park are being urged to stay away from rutting deer to avoid being seriouly injured.
The mating season, known as the rut, runs from September to November and involves male deer clashing antlers to fight off rivals and attract “as many females as possible to mate with”, Royal Parks said.
Deer may seem “relaxed and subdued one minute”, and then start “suddenly chasing and fighting each other”, Bushy Park’s Assistant Park Manager Bill Swan warned.
“Visitors need to be extremely vigilant, otherwise they could risk severe injury,” he added.
People are advised to stand 50 metres from the deer and 100 metres away from an “active” male deer.
The stags are “pumped full of testosterone”, can weigh more than 25 stone and run up to 30 miles per hour, according to Royal Parks.
Being hit by a stag travelling at full speed is the equivalent of being mown down by a motorbike, the charity said.
“Visitors will notice a significant change in the deer from mid-September,” Mr Swan said.
“The first obvious change is the sound of deer bellowing in the parks as a warning to their rivals.
“The dominant male deer will start to round up the females, and fighting with other deer may ensue in a bid to hold onto their harems.
“Please don’t risk your safety, and that of children, by getting in the middle of the action. Keep your distance, and bring binoculars if you want a closer look.”
Royal Parks advises visitors to keep dogs on a lead near the deer or walk them elsewhere, and to never get between two rutting deer. Photographers are also urged to give the deer “respect and space”.
Volunteer rangers will be issuing safety advice to visitors in both Richmond and Bushy Parks. Together the parks are home to more than 1,000 free roaming red and fallow deer.
In October 2017 Yuan Li was stabbed through the thigh and her stomach as she was mauled by a rutting stag in front of horrified tourists at Richmond Park.
In 2018, a young girl who was being photographed next to a rutting stag was injured in Bushy Park.
All incidents “almost exclusively happen when people get closer than the recommended 50 metres”, Royal Parks warned.
