Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority on Sunday morning announced that its staff have rescued a yearling deer from poachers residing in the Palestinian Authority.
On Friday evening, a Facebook post originating in the PA, offered a yearling deer for sale. Deer are protected animals, and so when the Israel Nature and Parks Authority received alerts regarding the post from several sources, they launched an operation to rescue the helpless animal.
The Israeli officials received help in locating and capturing the fawn from Palestinian Authority officials. Once the suspect was arrested, the deer was transferred in good condition to the officers of the Nature Protection Officer unit in the Judea and Samaria Civil Administration, who transferred him for medical treatment.
The Eretz-Israel Tzvi (a.k.a. Palestine mountain gazelle, scientific name: Gazella gazella gazella) is a subspecies of the common species deer. The deer is one of the symbols of the Land of Israel, which is also called the Land of the Deer.
The Israeli deer is the only large herbivore left in Israel in large numbers and is in danger of extinction. It is one of the few mammals in which both sexes have horns. Males have significantly larger horns with rings around them. Females also have horns, but they are be thinner and shorter. Along with the horns, the males are larger than the females. A wild male can range in weight from 37–65 lbs, while females are 35–55 lbs. They can reach running speeds up to 50 mph.
The Eretz-Israel Deer are most abundant in Israel, but are also found in parts of Jordan and Turkey. While there are not accurate estimates of the number of individuals in the wild, Israel estimated there to be only 3,100 endangered deer within its territory.
