Hopes that wee battler Fez in on mend after vicious dog attack in Cairngorms
Fingers are crossed that a young reindeer calf will eventually make a full recovery after a brutal dog attack.
It was initially touch and go whether eight-month-old Fez would survive her ordeal.
But she has been responding well to the antibiotic treatment for the serious neck wound she sustained.
The youngster fled the free-ranging herd from the hills above Glenmore and only returned to the group on Saturday after being missing for nearly a fortnight.
Fiona Smith, of the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd, said they had almost given up hope for Fez.
She told the Strathy: “She is doing okay. We decided it was probably better for Fez to be out on the free-range with her mum and the rest of the herd considering she had managed to be out there on her own for two weeks anyway.
“Just for her own well-being physically and mentally and it also means that she is always going to be on clean ground.
“It is a bit more of a mission for us every day as we have to go and locate her to give Fez her medicine of antibiotics and pain-killers and to clean out the wound – but that is fine.
“Fez is doing fine and is now in good spirits. None of her legs are damaged so she can keep up with the herd no bother.
“But honestly I wrote her off when she went missing two weeks ago and a few days later there was still no sign of her. I suspected it was game over.”
Extensive searches were unable to trace her after her disappearance on January 4.
But she eventually found her own way back to the herd despite the deep bite wound on her neck and multiple areas on her haunches having had fur ripped out.
Concerns she may perish have started to give way to optimism. Fiona said: “Fez is a strong wee character to have turned up after two weeks. We now think she will recover but is it a nasty wound.
“It is full of pus and stinks as it is rotting flesh. It is obviously a dog bite – there is nothing else out there to do this.”
The reindeer herd team are urging dog owners to keep their pets under control. It is not the first time that one of their reindeer has been attacked. A female had to be put down in 2020 after breaking her leg whilst fleeing from a dog, leaving her three-month-old calf orphaned.
