Scots wildlife park owner fears missing hand-reared stag may have been hunted down

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The owner of a Perthshire wildlife park fears her massive, tame, hand-reared stag called Harris has been killed or abducted after he escaped when his enclosure was vandalised.

Auchingarrich Wildlife Park in Comrie has been home to the magnificent six-year-old red deer stag since September. He was on loan from a breeding project in Fife and had just settled into his new home in the wooded Perthshire countryside when intruders came in the night, breaking out Harris and most of a group of 40 hinds by cutting an eight-foot fence.

In the days that followed the escaped females were rounded up. But no one has spotted Harris since October 31 and the clock is ticking.

Fears were raised that the friendly stag - a massive specimen with 14-point antlers - could have been an easy kill for trophy hunters as he is not scared of humans.Park manager Kevin Campbell who looked after him begged: “Please don’t shoot Harris. “Harris was king of Auchingarrich. “He’s a sportsman’s dream head - he’d be a hugely valuable target as a trophy. “He’s worth a lot dead I know, but he’s worth the world to me alive.” Now more than two anxious weeks since the deer enclosure fence vandalised, Auchingarrich’s owner Alexa Reid told the Perthshire Advertiser that with no sign of Harris, she’s also fearful he may be dead. “It’s very upsetting, there has been nothing found to suggest what has happened to him. “We just don’t know where he went.