Rare documentation in the Gaza Envelope: About two weeks ago, Nir Leichter, a reservist who stopped for coffee in Nahal Hashur, handed over a photo of an Israeli deer with “something strange on its back” to Amir Laban, a member of the Society for the Protection of Nature. From the inquiry he made with the deer, it turned out that it was a familiar deer with a pair of front legs growing from its back, and he rushed to the field to try and document the rare phenomenon.
“The deer survived a complex litter and faced many predators”
“The deer, which began its life in the Kisufim area as an ofer in 2021, survived a complex litter, faced many predators that endanger young ofer, grew up in Rukia and as an adult managed to occupy an impressive property in the Nahal Hashour Reserve, one of the most important strongholds left for the Israeli deer in the Western Negev, especially during the war,” said Belvan . “Contrary to expectations, the deer is healthy, strong and has three fawns and a fawn from the previous fall. He was seen hosting the females in the harvest fields and the extra legs on his back do not pose any challenge for him.”
The first time that multiple organs have been documented in an Israeli deer
The Society for the Protection of Nature added that multiple organs (polymelia) is a well-known but very rare phenomenon. This is a genetic defect, apparently hereditary. It is known in cattle, poultry and reptiles, and this is the first time it is documented in an Israeli deer. “I watched him while he was looking in a harvested field and waiting for the females. They were very timid and it was impossible to get close, but little by little I was able to shorten the distance in order to record this special deer” testified in Laban. “They moved up the field, lying down and resting in the gentle warmth of the rising sun.”
This is how you will help the deer to be saved from madmen
The Israeli deer is a wild animal protected by law and Israel is the last stronghold of this species. Spring is the height of the littering season and there are small ewes in the field. If you come across Ofer hiding in the field, he is not an orphan. In the first weeks, the deer hide the fawns from predators. Move away immediately without leaving scent marks or residue to avoid attracting predators that will devour the lead. Most likely, the deer is watching from afar and will come to take care of Ofer every few hours,” adds Laban.
Only 5,000 deer remain in Israel
The situation of the Haaretz-Israeli deer is not happy, and according to estimates there are only about 5,000 deer of this species left in the wild. The main danger to the deer’s life in the wild is the construction and destruction of natural habitats and the construction of roads, which interrupt their habitats and isolate them from their own kind. Therefore, the Society for the Protection of Nature and other entities are fighting to save every open area and ecological corridor that is still left and at the same time, trying to optimize the planning so that the development will include significant ecological transitions.
“Illegal hunters hunt them mainly for the purpose of trading in their meat”
“There is still a lot of work and also areas defined as open areas, in practice are blocked by fences, infrastructure, etc. Additional dangers to the deer’s life are illegal hunters, who hunt them mainly for the purpose of trading in their meat, and an extreme proliferation of stray dogs and jackals, which prey on the deer and their antlers,” concluded Amir In white, from the Society for the Protection of Nature.
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