Chinese water deer, as a park animal

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rustypigeon

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Hi all, I will start with a little bit of background. I have a patch of land at mine wich I would like to have as a deer pen. The aim is to just have a few animals and to have them as ‘pets’. Not really as pets as I don’t want to sit out there petting them but what I mean is that they won’t be for any financial gain as in I don’t want them for the meat (I get enough venison as it is) and I don’t want to open it to the public. So anyway, so far so good! All I have said so far is perfectly do-able as far as I can see. Now for the dilemma. I have it in my head that I would like Chinese water deer rather than the standard red, fallow or sika park deer. Is this possible? They must be semi suitable to living in a park environment as they originated at Woburn? If so does anyone know where there are any other parks with cwd? If any? Thanks for taking the time to read, Matt
 
rustypigeon said:
Hi all, I will start with a little bit of background. I have a patch of land at mine wich I would like to have as a deer pen. The aim is to just have a few animals and to have them as ‘pets’. Not really as pets as I don’t want to sit out there petting them but what I mean is that they won’t be for any financial gain as in I don’t want them for the meat (I get enough venison as it is) and I don’t want to open it to the public. So anyway, so far so good! All I have said so far is perfectly do-able as far as I can see. Now for the dilemma. I have it in my head that I would like Chinese water deer rather than the standard red, fallow or sika park deer. Is this possible? They must be semi suitable to living in a park environment as they originated at Woburn? If so does anyone know where there are any other parks with cwd? If any? Thanks for taking the time to read, Matt
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Would you fall foul of the "non native species" rules if you started moving CWD around the country?
 
VSS said:
Would you fall foul of the "non native species" rules if you started moving CWD around the country?
Click to expand...
I really don’t know, I would like it if others could let me know! Although sika are in many parks (or farms?) and they are non native?
 
rustypigeon said:
I really don’t know, I would like it if others could let me know! Although sika are in many parks (or farms?) and they are non native?
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There's a significant difference between a park and a farm. Deer enclosed in a park are subject to the same legislation as wild deer, so introducing a foreign species into a park may be viewed in a similar light to releasing them into the wild perhaps? I'm not sure about CWD. I know it wouldn't be permitted with muntjac.
 
VSS said:
Would you fall foul of the "non native species" rules if you started moving CWD around the country?
Click to expand...
It must be possible or at least was possible at one time as Showerings of Shepton Mallet (Babycham) maintained a small herd at one time.
Also, some were moved to Margam park many years ago. A keeper at Margam told me that they all escaped, they are renowned for being escape artists, but then gradually died out as the local environment wasn't conducive to colonisation.

Wouldn't it be illegal to live capture deer to establish your small "deer park" without the necessary license, so you would be dependent on buying in stock from another park?
 
Having kept CWD in a park setting I would advise against. As already stated they are escapologists. The only deer I have ever seen actively running up and over fences as a means of escape. They are also very prone to breaking legs.
 
8x57 said:
It must be possible or at least was possible at one time as Showerings of Shepton Mallet (Babycham) maintained a small herd at one time.
Also, some were moved to Margam park many years ago. A keeper at Margam told me that they all escaped, they are renowned for being escape artists, but then gradually died out as the local environment wasn't conducive to colonisation.

Wouldn't it be illegal to live capture deer to establish your small "deer park" without the necessary license, so you would be dependent on buying in stock from another park?
Click to expand...
The rules on non-native species were updated relatively recently (within the last few years) so what was previously permissable may not be now.

A licence would be required for live capture of wild deer.
 
i met a guy at a game fair that knew alot about deer in captivity, he is based not far from kings lynn cant remember his name but some one must know him
 
Fallow make nice park deer - my neighbor got some, tested a new thermal on them the other day, gave me a twitchy finger ;)
 
rustypigeon said:
Hi all, I will start with a little bit of background. I have a patch of land at mine wich I would like to have as a deer pen. The aim is to just have a few animals and to have them as ‘pets’. Not really as pets as I don’t want to sit out there petting them but what I mean is that they won’t be for any financial gain as in I don’t want them for the meat (I get enough venison as it is) and I don’t want to open it to the public. So anyway, so far so good! All I have said so far is perfectly do-able as far as I can see. Now for the dilemma. I have it in my head that I would like Chinese water deer rather than the standard red, fallow or sika park deer. Is this possible? They must be semi suitable to living in a park environment as they originated at Woburn? If so does anyone know where there are any other parks with cwd? If any? Thanks for taking the time to read, Matt
Click to expand...
Interesting idea. Not your usual “park deer” species. I don’t know much about the legality/licensing side of it but from a practical perspective it could be interesting with the territoriality of males and fighting each other with those great tusks! Also the fecundity of the species might bring its own difficulties. You may soon have loads of them if you aren’t shooting them (unless you only keep females)
I’d imagine they aren’t the easiest of deer to keep in any case.
 
Buckaroo8 said:
Interesting idea. Not your usual “park deer” species. I don’t know much about the legality/licensing side of it but from a practical perspective it could be interesting with the territoriality of males and fighting each other with those great tusks! Also the fecundity of the species might bring its own difficulties. You may soon have loads of them if you aren’t shooting them (unless you only keep females)
I’d imagine they aren’t the easiest of deer to keep in any case.
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I would happily shoot any excess deer and process them, I just didn’t want to mention that before incase people thought that I was doing it for the venison, in wich case a different species would be easier/preferable. I spend a lot of time around the other deer species so fancied having some cwd around to observe.
 
shakey jake said:
i met a guy at a game fair that knew alot about deer in captivity, he is based not far from kings lynn cant remember his name but some one must know him
Click to expand...
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Also Watatunga reserve as said by Norfolk Horn - run by same people.
 
Even if you are going to treat them like pets it's still a good idea to not end up with a load of old deer so shooting the middle aged will help limit the problems with health and you will pick up problems much earlier with the herd with your gralloch inspection
 
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