Savage dog attack at Northumberland beauty spot
Staff at Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Hauxley reserve have been left traumatised following a barbaric dog attack on a resident deer.
Male roe deer. Image: Jon Hawkins Surrey Hills Photography
The award winning Hauxley reserve at Druridge Bay is home to weasels, rabbits, hares, stoats, foxes, mice, red squirrels and roe deer.
Over one hundred and fifty different species of birds from across the world touch down on the reserve throughout the year.
Due to its abundance of wildlife, there is a strict ban on dogs on the site apart from guide dogs and assistance dogs.
This week, the no dog rule was broken in the most savage way imaginable.
Unbeknown to staff, two adults in their early twenties, together with a terrier and lurcher dog entered the top end of the reserve from Low Hauxley through the back of the reserve’s woodland at 3pm.
The area is well known for regular roe deer sightings and is always off limits to the public for that reason.
Witnessed by two members of the public, in a split second the lurcher chased a young male (buck) roe deer into the small pond at the public entrance to the Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre, grabbed it by the back legs and pulled it down.
Despite shouting at the youths to stop the dog, they did nothing to call their dogs off.
The attack and lack of action by the owners resulted in the terrified deer being chased into the pond, brought down and pushed under the water then savaged. The innocent animal had puncture marks and rips to its legs and bite marks around its neck, it didn’t stand a chance during the sustained attack which ultimately resulted in its death.
Young roe deer at Hauxley nature reserve. (This is not thought to be the deer that was killed.) Image: Anna Williams
The shouting alerted members of staff in the visitor centre who ran out, just in time to see the two young men take off in the direction of Hauxley beach. Further reports confirmed by members of the public that the men were spotted in the water, washing the blood off the dogs before running down the beach.
Back at the scene of the attack, Lee Rankin, Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Biodiversity Boost Project Officer had the heartbreaking task of wading into the pond and taking photographs of the dead deer before removing it from the pond.
Judging by the fact that the dog knew how to take the deer down, it is not the first time it has done it and is more than likely used regularly for hunting in this way.
Northumbria Police were made aware at the time of the incident and the incident has been referred to its Wildlife Crime Unit.
A Northumbria Police spokesperson told The Ambler, “Shortly after 3.05pm on Friday, July 25, we responded to a report of a disturbance in the Druridge Bay area in Northumberland. It was reported that two men had trespassed on private land nearby with their dogs who killed a deer, before leaving the scene. Enquiries are ongoing.
“Anyone with information can contact Northumbria Police by sending a direct message on social media, or by using live chat or report forms on the Force’s website. If you are unable to contact officers in those ways, then you can call 101, quoting the reference number: NP-20250725-0769.”
The Trust would like to remind all members of the public to report any incidences of poaching directly to Northumbria Police via the 101 number and to advise them that it happened on a Trust reserve.
I am so very sorry to see how this deer suffered. I lived at Warkworth Station and we would be woken in the early hours by poachers with dogs in the fields across the railway line. I spoke to the local ghillie who looks after Guyzance Hall and he said poachers bet on ‘which dog’ can bring the deer down.
None of my family ever reveal the location of deer because once revealed they suffer at the hands of sadistic fools.
And unfortunately over the summer I did see a man and a boy of about 15 with two long haired lurchers at Morpeth bus station. I thought they were going out either hare coursing or poaching for deer. They got on the X18 bus and got off