Tourist gored in throat by stag fights for life
Startled animal inflicts horror injury after it panics in ‘freakish accident’
AN ACADEMIC is fighting for her life after being gored in the neck by a stag. Dr Kate Stone, 30, was airlifted to hospital in Glasgow after the “one-in-a-million” attack at Lochailort, near Fort William.
The fully grown animal is believed to have been startled by a partying group during the early hours of Monday. As the stag fled, its antlers pierced the Cambridge University academic’s throat.
The accident left the outdoor enthusiast with serious injuries and friends fear that she may even be paralysed. A spokesman for Southern General Hospital last night said that Dr Stone was in a “serious but stable” condition.
The academic, who has a PhD in phys- ics and micro-electronics, was with a group of friends outside the home of Highland musician and guitar tutor Jim Hunter when the stag attacked at about 2am.
Mr Hunter described the attack as a “freakish accident”. He said: “We had been to the pub up the road and were
coming back to my house through the gate in the darkness and the full-grown stag must have got trapped in the garden as we have deer fences around it.
“It must have panicked when it saw us and the only way out was through the gate that we were standing at.
“It just ran at us and went straight through us and its ant- lers must have caught Kate in the neck. It was just a freakish accident.”
Mr Hunter, 50, said he had invited the group back to his house after a ceilidh at the Lochailort Inn.
He added: “We had been up at the pub where there was a big music session and at the end of the night I had said to a few people to come on down for a beer.
“I didn’t know who she was. She was in the group I was with and I had only met her a few minutes earlier. She was on holiday in the area.”
Mr Hunter said there was blood coming from Dr Stone’s neck after the stag attacked. He described how he believed she had suffered injuries to her face, neck and chest.
He added: “We took her inside. The paramedics came in about 20 minutes which is good as we are a bit isolated here, and gave her oxygen. They were fantastic.”
After the attack, the stag vanished into the surrounding trees and moorland, leaving Dr Stone lying on the ground.
An ambulance was called to the scene, travelling 15 miles from the fishing port of Mallaig.
Dr Stone, who is a research engineer at Cambridge University’s Institute of Manufacturing, was rushed to the Belford Hospital in Fort William before being transferred to Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital by air ambulance.
The group had been on a threeday break in the Highlands. Dr Stone had intended to travel to Dundee yesterday to visit her sister.
They had been staying at the nearby MoDhachaidh bed and breakfast, owned by Falklands War veteran Gary Burton.
Mr Burton said he heard about the attack when one of Ms Stone’s friends returned at around 2:30am.
“I think what happened was that the stag panicked,” he said. “It was trapped in a fenced garden having got through a gate. I don’t think there was anywhere else to go and it charged out of the gate. It’s very bizarre and very horrific.”
He added: “I understand the type of injury Kate has suffered can cause quadraplegia or paraplegia. She is critical in the hospital intensive care unit. She was telling me she enjoyed the outdoors in the hills and camping on her own in remote places, so any form of paralysis to such an active person will be a disaster.
“The incident is absolutely shocking and so unexpected. There are plenty of hinds and stags round here but you never hear of a stag attacking anyone.
“The force of the attack and impact must have been ferocious. I went to the scene later and found Kate’s mobile phone smashed into tiny bits.”
Mr Burton said the local community had never experienced attacks of this nature before. He said: “This is a one-in-a-million event which has shocked the whole community. We are at one with nature in Lochailort, and we have deer all around us. We are all hoping and praying that Kate pulls through.”
The surrounding mountain and moorland containing hundreds of deer is a sporting estate of several thousand acres owned by hedge-fund financier Tim Leslie, who also owns Flichity Estate near Inverness and the Lochailort Inn.
Becky Pink, of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Highland Wildlife Park, near Aviemore, confirmed it was likely the deer had acted the way it did because it had been startled. “It does sound like this stag had a bit of a fright and went into a a panic and wanted to get away.”