WARNING - DISTRESSING IMAGE: Dead deer found in Sheffield park

Ryan Hanstock said he found the deer lying on a path near the duck pond at Endcliffe Park while out walking his dogs this morning, shortly before 6am.

The 33-year-old, who lives across the road from the popular park and walks there most days, said he had never seen a deer there before and has no idea how this one died.

“Endcliffe Park’s quite a small park and there are lots of events there, so you wouldn’t ever think you’d get a deer there,” he said.

“It looked like it had been laid out on the path, and there was no sign of any injury.

“My first thought would be that it had been hit by a car and stumbled off before dying, but it was nowhere near a road.

“Someone suggested it might have wandered in from the Peak District and eaten something which killed it but I don't know how likely that is.

“I know a bit about deer and I believe it’s a male roe deer, probably about two or three years old.”

Mr Hanstock, who works as an operations manager for an occupational health company, posted a photo of the dead deer on Facebook this morning, warning people to be careful if walking with dogs or young children.

He said he had not reported it to the authorities but the deer was gone when he returned this evening after work.

Ann Le Sage, chairwoman of the Friends of the Porter Valley, said this evening that she was not aware of a deer having been found dead in the park, nor had she heard of deer being spotted in the park previously.

An environmental expert at Sheffield Hallam University told in 2017 how sightings of deer in Sheffield’s urban districts were becoming increasingly common.

The general manager of Sheffield General Cemetery Trust told at the time how numerous visitors to the burial site in Sharrow Vale had reported seeing a roe deer, which was believed to have travelled there along the Porter Valley.