‘elo, ‘elo, ‘elo. What ‘ave we deer then?

Two police officers literally went above and beyond the call of duty when they went to rescue of a deer tangled on a rope swing in Powys.

A member of the public called Dyfed-Powys Police to report the deer’s antler was caught on the rope near Welshpool at around 3.30pm on Sunday, 23 January.

Although such calls are not what the police usually deal with, two members of the Powys Roads Policing Unit, PC Marcus Wright and PC Dave Wilkinson, were in the area and decided to go and investigate.

“I saw the call come on the system and that it had been referred to the RSPCA,” said PC Wilkinson.
“But as animal lovers I suggested to Marcus that we go and see if we could help the animal and prevent any suffering that it was going through.

Armed with just a small pair of scissors, the pair swung into action and went to the site, near Powis Castle, to find the deer in a distressed state, frothing from its mouth and breathing very heavily.
As it tried to run away it was being pulled off its four legs by the rope.

The pair’s initial attempts of trying to take hold of the rope swing failed due to the panic still in the deer and with sharp antlers so close to where they needed to work, the officers had to use some caution despite their determination to free the creature.

When the deer tired a little, they managed to calm it with PC Wright gently scratching its forehead while PC Wilkinson got to work with the scissors from their first aid kit to cut away at the rope.
“The poor thing was swinging by its antler and must have been exhausted and terrified,” said PC Wright.

“Fortunately, it calmed pretty quickly which enabled us get to work untangling its antler so it could be freed. Within 15 minutes it was freed, but it sat there for a little while to catch its breath and then it was off.

“As animal lovers, it was great to see, and a very rewarding experience for us both.”
The officers were delighted to help in this instance but want to remind the public that agencies such as the RSPCA are there to assist in such incidents.