Bringing Biblical Deer to the Holy Land

In our last report we were looking forward to another release of deer into the wild at Nahal Soreq near Jerusalem in October/November of this year. However, weather conditions have been unseasonably dry this year – you may have seen the news reports of the huge wildfires that recently swept across Israel, these blazes got out of control very quickly because of the dry conditions. Usually we have had our first rains and there is plenty of green grazing available to sustain the released deer. Our team have monitored the conditions near the release site and they are not sufficient to release the deer at present (newly-released deer require optimal conditions in order to provide the best chance of survival).

Accordingly, the release has been postponed to January/February of 2017.

Some of the deer in the next release will be fitted with GPS tracking collars which are far more accurate and easier to use than radio telemetry tracking collars.

In the meanwhile, we continue to receive reports of sightings from the local community and we hope you will be as excited as we are to view the above photograph of a young male sighted recently in the wild.

Thank you for being a part of this project– we appreciate your generosity and support!

With warm wishes from Team Fallow Deer at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo

With almost 150 deer having been released into the Nahal Soreq area near Jerusalem in recent years, and upwards of 50 deer surviving in the wild today, we can be justifiably proud of the success of this wildlife conservation program. Thank you generous supporters – you help make these wildlife conservation efforts possible.

An exciting recent development is that our tracking data shows a greater dispersion range than we’ve ever seen before. Frequent sighting reports come in from members of the public also which is very encouraging – more so because we can sense that we have made a breakthrough in community attitudes to wildlife conservation. More adult males and females and wild-born fawns have been spotted over the summer months.

Our staff members track and monitor the released deer in various ways – including radio telemetry tracking collars, GPS tracking collars and camera traps.

We are now planning our next release of individuals into the wild which will take place in late October/early November. Stay tuned for more news!

Thank you for being a part of this project– we appreciate your generosity and support!

With warm wishes from -

Team Fallow Deer at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo