PHOTOS: Deer fight in Turkish zoo turns on keeper

KAYSERİ

A zoo keeper in Turkey has gotten caught between two fighting deer - and was lucky to escape with little or no harm.

Two deer at the Anadolu Harikalar Diyarı (Anatolia Wonder Land) zoo in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri engaged in a fight on Jan. 27, after which worker Nuri İlkaya tried to separate them, Anadolu Agency reported. 


However, as the deer locked horns to prove their strength to females in the mating season, one of them hit İlkaya with its horn, while the other - weighing 85 kilograms - trampled on him.


İlkaya, who managed to escape with no serious injuries as zoo visitors watched the incident, said he was trying to keep the deer from harming each other. 

“I became the victim when I tried to make peace between them. Thank God, I escaped with no injuries,” he said.


There are around 2,500 animals from 173 species in the 180,000-square meter zoo in Kayseri.