Deer dies after being caught in fence around controversial new allotment site near Bristol

A deer has died after being caught in a fence around the site of a controversial new allotment just outside Bristol.     

The roe was put down after becoming trapped in the wired fence around where Roots Allotment plans to build 700 allotments in Abbots Leigh.       

Members of the local community have said the fence, which saw police called when it was installed in October, is “not fit for the purpose".   

But Roots says while it is “understandably upset” by the incident, its fencing meets the correct standards.

“We got a call from somebody saying, 'Could somebody bring wire cutters because there is a deer caught in the fence?'” said local resident Pip A'Ness, recalling the incident on Boxing Day. 

“There were people walking along the footpath having to witness a deer with its leg caught in the fence, hanging by a limb with the flesh ripped from the bone. 

“Anyway, we cut the fence and let it out and it limped across the field dragging its leg.” 

A'Ness says the deer was later put down by a member of a local wildlife group after receiving phone advice from the RSPCA and vets.  

“This is not the first time we’ve had deer caught in the fence and it will not be the last time,” she added.  

“This fence is not fit for purpose. Natural England should have been involved in this ridiculous situation.   

“We’ve been saying for 15 months there needs to be a wildlife impact assessment because there is so much wildlife in these fields.” 

Roots received a certificate of lawfulness for the allotments site in November, after facing fierce opposition from people in the village.   

In response to the incident, Ed Morrison, co-founder of Roots, said they always follow guidance from the Forestry Commission website to ensure their fencing meets the correct standard.   

He said. “Nothing like this has ever happened at a Roots site before, so we are all understandably upset. We care deeply about nature and pride ourselves on increasing biodiversity at all of our sites.  

“We are still in conversation with the RSPCA and locals to understand the situation better. We currently understand that the deer was dealt with by locals without a vet or the RSPCA present.

“It is not uncommon for allotment sites and market gardens up and down the country to have deer fencing or other high fencing installed to help protect crops, it may be viewed as an essential means of moving away from industrial agriculture towards more localised food production, whether you're growing on a market garden or allotment. 

“Where possible we try to minimise the use of fencing across our sites but in some circumstances it is required.

“We aim to have a better presence at the site so we can help prevent any further incidents like this happening again and we will be bringing forward the hedgerow planting to start in January/February to create an additional barrier for deer to be put off from attempting to jump the agricultural fence.  

“We are working as a team and taking advice to find further solutions on how we can avoid this happening in the future.” 

Morrison said there were previously some deer in Roots' enclosure in October, due to the gate being open. He said they were notified quickly about this and were able to rectify the situation without any issues.      

But A’Ness said the gate was open to let the deer out after they jumped over the fence. She said after the Boxing Day incident, locals’ priority in the moment was to sort the deer out.

Morrison added: “Being able to have a presence on site helps us mitigate risks to wildlife getting onto our sites, however over the last 1.5 years of obstructions from local residents we have only just been able to obtain approval of the allotments which we had hoped to have fully functioning by now. 

“Across our growing communities that are active we had members visit over the festive break (including Christmas day and Boxing Day), if we had a presence on the ground this would have been avoided.  

“Unfortunately not a single local reached out to us to inform us of this incident before it was too late which feels like yet another attempt to cause damage to our project which hopes to achieve positive ripple effects for local food production, galvanising community feeling, and helping people re-learn ancestral skills up and down the country.”

Roots currently have sites in Croydon and Stourbridge as well as two sites near Bath, which cost more than council allotments — at £9.99 to £34.99 a month — but include seeds, courses, and access to tools. 600 people have already signed up for allotments at the new Abbots Leigh site.