Home / Reeves’s Muntjac (Muntjac deer)

Reeves’s Muntjac (Muntjac deer)

Reeves’s Muntjac (Muntjac deer) Muntiacus reevesi

Photo credit: GBNNSS

 

  • Appearance: Small, dog-sized thickset deer with relatively short legs, reddish brown coat with cream coloured belly, males have short antlers and long upper canine teeth
  • Biology: Breed all year round, has distinctive barking sound.
  • Diet: Woodland herbs, garden plants, fungi, berries, grasses, nuts and may eat tree bark and eggs.
  • Impact: Negative impact on woodland, forestry and gardens, cause of road traffic accidents.
  • Pathway: May have escaped or been deliberately released into the wild.
  • Legal status: Species of special concern listed under the retained EU Regulation 1143/2014 and the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement & Permitting) Order 2019.

 

  • Unless you have a licence or permit or an exemption applies you must not:
    • keep them in your house, garden or business
    • sell them to other people
    • exchange them for goods
    • release them into the environment
    • let them breed or escape
    • import them into the UK
    • transport them within the UK
    • export them to other countries

 

  • What to do if you see Muntjac deer for sale or other offences being committed: Make a report by following the guidance here.

 

  • What to do if you see this animal in the wild: Record it with a photograph (where possible).