Wildlife officials condemn Colorado resident who was filmed feeding deer in her home
Charges have been filed against two Colorado residents who were caught feeding big-game wildlife near their homes.
A woman who was photographed being knocked down by a deer insists she was not feeding the animal, or taking selfies, before the attack.
Gemma Louisianna, a songwriter in London, claims to be the woman behind the now-viral photo, which was first shared by the Royal Parks Police to warn Richmond Park goers of the dangers of getting too close to the wildlife during rutting season.
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Louisianna shared in an email with Fox News she is a regular visitor to the park and is “always respectful of the deer and their surroundings.”
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“I regularly see visitors getting exceptionally close to the deer but this is not something that I was there to do. Whist I hoped to get some of the deer in the far distance of some of the photographs, I did not approach this herd of deer when the attack happened,” she wrote.
"It was only after this happened that the Royal Parks Police ranger approached me to say I was too close, even though it was the deer that approached me."
The woman stated she was “nervous of the deer as it approached” and she dropped a bag she was holding, which “contained some snacks” she had brought with her.
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“The deer was interested in the bag and started eating the food in it. I was concerned that the deer may eat non-edible things in my other bag so I went to move it away from the deer and slowly walk away. It was at this point that the deer attacked me,” she wrote.
The woman says she was injured during the deer attack and has “big bruises” on her back, and is upset with the park police’s handling of the situation.
“It was only after this happened that the Royal Parks Police ranger approached me to say I was too close, even though it was the deer that approached me. At no point did the ranger ask about my welfare after the attack or check to see if I was OK. Neither did they say they had taken a photograph of me and that it would be posted on their social media channels,” she wrote in an email to Fox News.
“The attitude and behavior of the ranger added to an already upsetting experience. Despite saying they would wait with me until I could safely retrieve my belongings from where I had left them when the deer attacked me, they did not. Thankfully, another photographer in the park was able to collect them a little later for me.”
Louisianna confirmed she was at the park on Sunday Oct. 11 taking photos – though they were professional photos taken by a photographer “to support my songwriting purposes” and not for Instagram. She also wrote that she did not take any selfies. People on social media had reportedly accused the woman of getting close to the deer to take photos of herself on her phone.
The woman insists she had not approached the deer, despite claims by eyewitnesses to police that she had been feeding the deer during prior to the incident, as reported previously to Fox News by the Royal Parks Police.
In a statement from Simon Richards, the park manager for Richmond Park, where the incident occurred, to Fox News, he said the woman had gotten “too close” to the deer.
The young woman was attacked by a deer while she was taking professional photos, she said in an email to Fox News. (iStock)
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Louisianna claims she was unaware that the deer were in rutting season, saying there were no signs at the park.
“During my daily walks in Richmond Park through lockdown, there were many people far closer to the deer than I was, and often they were approaching them with no issues. If the behavior of the deer changes throughout the year then this should be made very clear by Richmond Park and its rangers,” she wrote.
Richmond Park has posted on its social media account, as well as its blog stating the dangers of the rutting season. It is unclear if there are signs posted at the park warning guests.
On Instagram, the Royal Parks (which oversees Richards Park) issued a warning to visitors, stating that “during the deer rut in Bushy and Richmond parks, a stag will weigh upwards of 25 stone (350 pounds) and have sharp antlers. Being hit by a stag traveling full speed of up to 30 mph is the equivalent of being mown down by a motorbike."
Richmond and Bushy parks are home to more than 1,000 free-roaming deer.