Woman is gored by a stag as she took photos in royal park
A TERRIFIED woman was gored by an aggressive stag in Richmond Park while she was photographing deer.
Yuan Li, 43, suffered six puncture wounds that required surgery in hospital.
The milliner, who has made hats for Holly Willoughby and Myleene Klass, was left with a major wound on her thigh and a small blood clot on her bladder.
Doctors fear her recovery could take up to 12 weeks.
Miss Li had been taking pictures in the park last Friday when the stag attacked her. Experts advise members of the public to stay around 150ft (50m) away from the wild animals in the royal park.
Deer are known to be most aggressive in the autumn when they engage in mating battles, known as the rutting period.
‘There need to be more signs obviously, to highlight the mating season and to make people aware of how dangerous stags are at this time of year,’ Miss Li told The Daily Telegraph.
She has asked Richmond Council in south-west London to move the park’s native deer into enclo- sures in a bid to prevent future attacks. But Charles Smith-Jones, technical adviser to the British Deer Society, said such incidents were very rare.
Adam Curtis, manager for Richmond Park, said: ‘We’re very sorry to hear a woman has been injured and we hope she makes a speedy recovery.
‘This is a frightening accident, and a powerful warning to others why it is dangerous to crowd deer, especially during the autumn rutting season.’
He added: ‘We have prominent warning signs at key locations asking people to stay at least 50m away from deer.’ There are also signs advising visitors not to come between rutting stags.
Miss Li has worked as a fashion designer for 15 years and has made hats for celebrities such as Beverley Knight and Michelle Keegan.
Her creations are sold for as much as £880 and are regularly seen on the racecourse.
Wild deer have roamed in Richmond Park since 1637 and there are currently more than 600 fallow and red deer there. These species tend to rut most fiercely during October. Richmond Park is the largest of the eight royal parks at 2,500 acres.