THE allotment-ravaging deer which sparked a worldwide petition to save her life is to be captured and moved on to pastures new.

After weeks of sending gardeners into a rage for causing ‘significant damage’ to their vegetables, the roe deer will be rehomed to Norfolk, Wokingham Town Council has decided.

More than 220,868 from people from as far afield as Australia and America signed a petition calling on the council to spare the the life of the deer after it emerged last month that she could be shot. 

But Paul Smith, the town’s amenities officer, told Wokingham Town Council’s amenities committee meeting on Tuesday that experts would use a net to try to catch the deer, which has been named Oki by petitioners.

He said: “We were contacted by Hillside Rescue who run two sanctuaries in Norfolk. They have experience in rescuing deer from urban sites.”

A team of two came to the Ormonde Road allotments to try to capture the deer in high netting but Oki escaped the allotments before she could be caught.

The team will return with more netting and more people to try to capture the rogue roe deer.

The committee heard that once captured Oki would be taken to the Hillside animal sanctuary in Norfolk, more than 150 miles from its current home in Berkshire, where she will either live in the sanctuary or be released into the wild.

Oki is the second deer to wander into the allotments in ten years, the previous deer was known as Deirdre.

However, town councillors refuse to use the committee’s contingency budget to put a deer-proof fence around the site, deferring the decision until companies have submitted quotes for the work. Estimates are between £3,000 and £4,000.

Mr Smith said: “The obvious thing is deer-proof fencing, a large square mesh that would sit just inside our existing fence. A problem came up with using an electric fence subsequent to writing the report.

“We have had more advice from someone who uses it on their farm and it isn’t useful to use along the railway line.”

The fence would have to be battery powered, with the battery needing to be replaced every three or four days.

The decision on which fence and where the fencing will go along the Ormonde Road allotment has been deferred until the next meeting.

It is expected that other town allotments, notably Latimer Road will also be given deer-proof fencing in due course.