Young reindeer calf Fez is touch and go after dog attack
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A plea has been made by the team who look after the Cairngorm reindeer herd after one of its young calves was attacked by a dog.
It is still touch and go whether eight-month-old Fez will recover from her ordeal.
The youngster fled the free-ranging herd from the hills above Glenmore and only returned to the group after being missing for nearly a fortnight.
A spokeswoman for the Cairngorm Reindeer Company said: "Fez went missing on January 4 from our free-ranging herd, and despite searching extensively we were unable to find her.
"Yesterday, nearly two weeks later, she managed to find her own way back to the herd.
"She has a deep bite wound on her neck inflicted by a dog and has multiple areas on her haunches where her fur has been ripped out.
"She must have been pursued for a long distance to push her so far away that it took this long for her to return.
"It is far from a certainty that she will recover."
The spokeswoman stressed that it was not the dog’s fault.
She said: "It was following its natural instincts. This is the fault of the person who brought that dog into the wild natural habitat of the Cairngorm mountains and didn’t then keep it under control.
"From what we see and hear, we suspect our free-ranging herd gets chased by a dog virtually every day of their lives.
"Usually they are lucky and outpace the dog though this still puts them under immense stress as they are being pursued by a predator.
"But sometimes, like Fez, they are less lucky and are bitten – sometimes fatally; injure themselves trying to get away, or are split from their mother when they are too young to survive alone.
"In 2020, one of our beautiful gentle females broke her leg fleeing a dog and had to be euthanised, leaving her three-month-old calf orphaned.
"We want everyone to enjoy the countryside, including dogs, but too often this seems to be at the expense of our reindeer plus of course all the wildlife – mountain hares, roe deer, ground nesting birds.
"Dogs should always be where you can see them and unless you can guarantee it will listen to you and come back if a hare erupts under its nose, then it should be on a lead.
"Owners may feel that their dog means no harm and just 'wants to play' but for the quarry the result is fear, pain and sometimes death."
Hopes that wee battler Fez is on the mend
