daveybpl
19-02-2008, 02:17 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7238534.stm
1657
A rare white stag has been observed on the west coast of the Highlands.
The animal has been seen with other red deer by a member of the John Muir Trust, which has kept its location a secret to protect it from poachers.
The killing of a white stag on the Devon and Cornwall border last year sparked outrage.
Fran Lockhart, partnership manager for the trust, caught the young Highland deer on camera. She described it as "ghost-like".
She said: "I am thrilled to know that there is a white stag roaming free out there in the Scottish Highlands and that I was privileged enough to be able to spend an hour observing him.
"We will be watching this animal with interest, particularly as he will be reaching his full potential in the next couple of years."
The trust said white deer were potent figures in the mythology of many cultures.
Celts considered them to be messengers from the otherworld.
They are closely identified with unicorns and their appearance is said to herald some profound change in the lives of those who encounter them.
Found headless
White deer are often mistakenly thought to be albinos.
The trust said their unusual appearance was caused by leucism, a rare genetic pattern that causes a reduction in the pigment in the animal's hair and skin.
Unlike albinos who characteristically have red eyes, deer with leucism have normal colouring in their eyes.
The stag killed in England last year was found headless after being shot by a poacher.
Farmers and gamekeepers had kept quiet about the stag's whereabouts for years in an attempt to protect him
lookfar
19-02-2008, 04:07 PM
Hi daveybpl :)
When I first saw this report I was left wondering why the hell they let it go into the MSM, especially after the tragic loss of the last one in Devon, which I was devastated about. There was a thread on it a while back on here somewhere.
I hope this one manages to remain hidden to any threats & can continue his reign of the highlands in peace......:)
Outrage as poachers shoot and behead Britain's only white stag
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=490058&in_page_id=1770
A white stag, thought to be the only one in Britain, has been shot and beheaded by poachers.
The decapitated 300lb carcass of the animal was found strung up from a tree.
It is thought that its head and antlers will be mounted and sold for thousands of pounds.
The existence of the white stag, actually a variant of the male red deer, which lived on the Devon and Cornwall border had been kept secret for years.
Scroll down for more...
Butchered : The white stag, whose existence was kept secret in a bid to deter poachers
Pat Carey, a gamekeeper and deer stalker of 46 years was in despair after finding out about the slaughter of the nine-year- old beast, which was viewed as sacred by locals.
'I've followed the stag for years,' he said. 'He was magnificent and it's disgusting that someone has done this to him.
'His existence wasn't widely known because we kept it secret to try to stop this happening.
'But deer stalkers and farmers knew about him - I even had calls from deer stalkers in Scotland who'd heard he'd been killed. I think I know who killed him and he should be ashamed.'
Mr Carey added that the white stag's head could be worth thousands if it was mounted.
White stags are sacred in many traditions and in Celtic and Egyptian mythologies.
The deer, which is snow-white in colour, was shot within the last month. Mr Carey added: 'People loved to see this deer about. He was just so mystical - it's just really sad.
'You'd be surprised how up in arms people are about it. I've been a gamekeeper and deer stalker all my life I would be very surprised is there is another white red deer stag. I think that the guy that shot it is going to have serious egg on his face.'
Mr Carey said that police were aware of the killing. But, as long as it is in season, it is not illegal to shoot deer. Mr Carey said: 'There's hundreds of red deer about. I don't know why they couldn't have just shot one of them.
'I know hundreds of men that shoot deer, but I know that they wouldn't have been able to shoot this deer. It was huge. We're talking about 300lb plus.'
Bastards
daveybpl
19-02-2008, 04:55 PM
Yeah hope this one has better luck,
Bit of mythology -
http://www.geocities.com/branwaedd/whitestag.html
The white stag is a familiar creature of myth and legend. Its origins are likely in the totemic period of early Indo-European society, particularly the northern societies of the Celts and pre-Indo-European cultures, whose subsistence was gained not only through agriculture, but through hunting.1 This dependence on deer may be seen in the zoomorphic Celtic god Cernunnos, depicted as being a man with the antlers of a deer.
The white stag in Celtic myth is an indicator that the Otherworld is near. It appears when one is transgressing a taboo--such as when Pwyll tresspassed into Arawn's hunting grounds, or when Peredur entered the Castle of Wonders in his second adventure at the house of the Lame King. It also appears as an impetus to quest--the white stag or hart often appears in the forests around King Arthur's court, sending the knights off on to adventure against gods and fairies. (C. S. Lewis uses this device at both the beginning and end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.2)
It also appears in French romance and lais as a similar indicator, such as in the lais of Marie de France, when Guigemar happens upon the strange sight of a white doe with antlers. He wounds the strange, hermaphroditic--note that word--animal, which curses him to grow up and fall in love.
It is also an important element of Hungarian mythology, which believed that a great white stag led the brothers Hunor and Magar to settle in Scythia. Thus were established the Huns and Magyars.
To Christians, the white stag came to symbolize Christ, perhaps in part inspired by the St. Eustace legend, wherein the Roman soldier Eustace is hunting, and happens upon a deer with a cross between his antlers. Eustace converts on the spot, and is put through numerous tragedies, persecutions, etc., including the death of his family, until being miraculously reunited with them. However, it is clear that this pious legend has pagan predecessors.
It is also worth noting that in Christian iconography, the unicorn is a symbol for Christ. There is a close identification between the white stag and the unicorn, and it can be reasoned that the white stag is the equivalent of the unicorn in these northern cultures, which do not record the existence of unicorns.3
The white hart also was the heraldic symbol of England's King Richard II.
The first thing to examine is the color: white is a symbol of purity, while also a symbol of otherworldliness. The white stag in Pwyll penduc Dyfed has a white body with red ears--the typical colors of otherworld creatures (the hounds of Arawn are also this color).
It is also associated with the sun; in Christian iconography, the stag appears with the sun between its horns. Earlier gods associated with the stag were also nature deities: Cernunnos, Fionn, Gwynn ap Nudd. Santa Claus--that half-memory of Odin/Thor--is drawn by eight reindeer--who may or may not be white. (If they live at the North Pole, they most likely are ;-)
The deer, finally, was a source of life, an important resource for early man.
Ultimately, the white stag is not only a creature of the gods, but is a god himself, symbolizing the creative life force of the universe--sex, life, and also death.