I just had a discussion about an observation of deer in Richmond Park (London). I marked the observation as cultivated. The other user did not agree. Am I wrong about it, though? Richmond Park was created in the 17th century as a deer park for the king to go hunting. Today it is famous for the ca. …

Personally, it sounds like they are a self-sustaining population. Confined, and have to be hunted, but do they ever have to artificially add deer to the population? Comparing them to say Greater Prairie Chickens in southern IL, new chickens have to be brought in periodically to beef up the populat…

As mentioned earlier in this thread, yes, the deer receive veterinary care.

This is a fairly popular subject on iNat. There are a couple voluminous topics discussing captive/cultivated vs wild. They contain many interesting and valid points of view; but I don’t recall there is a ever a consensus reached (so far).

[image] moritz3: However, the park is still an enclosure, which means the animals cannot leave the area at all. As a result the population of deer cannot sustain itself and about 200 animals have tobe culled annually. (1) Culling is used in many other parts of the world as a form of conservat…

Livestock can be very dangerous, too. Most bison farmers don’t get near their animals unless they have too.

I’ve been there. I’m not sure there is a direct answer to wild or not, I can understand people claiming they are wild - they certainly once were, but the place seemed really manicured to me: like you can’t say a safari park is wild animals by iNat definitions, it would be cultivated. I wouldn’t say …

Thank you all for your input. Personally I will probably stick to the opinion that even though the deer are not domesticated per se they are still managed and controlled by humans to such a high degree that I can’t really say they are wild. Yes, the park may withing the natural range of those specie…

Richmond Park and Bushy Park’s deer are wild creatures that can be unexpected. Our parks are nature preserves, and wild deer populations roam freely.

It is a long time since I was in Richmond Park so I can’t remember the details, but I am sure the deer cannot get out. It would be carnage if they were running around in London. Someone mentioned them being native. Red deer are native to Britain, fallow deer not.

Are the deer in Richmond Park (London) wild?

Nature Talk

DianaStuder February 4, 2022, 1:20pm 19

From the Richmond Park link - we manage enclosed wild deer herds
Been there since 1637.

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Are the deer in Richmond Park (London) wild?

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