What's behind surge in urban roe deer sightings?

A post shows a roe deer crossing a street near Seoul National University Station in Gwanak District earlier this month. Captured from Danggeun Market

Late at night in Bongcheon-dong, Gwanak District, Seoul, police received a report of an intruder at a gas station. Armed with flashlights, they began their search and soon captured the culprit in the car wash area.

The intruder turned out to be none other than a roe deer.

According to the police on Tuesday, the Gwanak Police Station received a report at approximately 11:35 p.m. on August 11 about a roe deer sighting in Bongcheon-dong.

The police, along with firefighters, responded to the situation. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage obtained by the Hankook Ilbo shows a young roe deer quickly entering the gas station.

The deer moved into the automatic car wash and stayed there for a short while. Soon after, a woman spotted the roe deer and called 112. Within five minutes, two police cars arrived, and the officers began searching the premises.

As one officer approached the deer in the car wash, it dashed in the opposite direction. Despite the police's attempt to block its escape route by positioning a squad car at the exit, their efforts proved futile.

The deer dashed across sidewalks and roads at high speed. Realizing that pursuing it on foot was ineffective, one officer reportedly borrowed a delivery motorcycle to continue the chase.

However, the deer managed to escape into a nearby mountain, evading capture before the firefighters even arrived on the scene.

Roe deer, usually found near mountains or along highways, are increasingly appearing in urban areas. Recently, there have been numerous sightings in southern Seoul districts such as Gwanak and Seocho.

On the neighborhood community board of Danggeun (formerly Danggeun Market), a local second-hand trading app, two posts have been made since last month reporting sightings of roe deer in the Gwanak area.

In June, a roe deer was reported on the nine-lane road in Banpo-dong, Seocho District, and the 13-lane road in Yangjae-dong.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters, reports involving roe deer jumped from 93 cases in 2022 to 198 cases in 2023.

Habitat increasingly threatened

With 127 cases reported in the first half of this year alone, the trend of roe deer sightings in urban areas is expected to keep rising. This increase contrasts with the nationwide decline in roe deer population density, which has been decreasing annually since 2017, when it was 8.3 deer per square kilometer.

Although there is no official count, the National Institute of Biological Resources estimates the roe deer population in South Korea to be around 450,000.

Experts point to rapid urbanization as a key factor in the decreasing habitat for roe deer. Son Seung-hoon, a researcher at the National Institute of Biological Resources, said, "As urban areas expand, with apartments even being built in forested areas, the roe deer's habitat is increasingly encroached upon."

Seasonal factors are also at play, as this is the breeding season when the activity and population of roe deer increase.

Woo Dong-geol, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Ecology, said, "Last year's young roe deer are becoming independent this summer, so it's likely that they are frequently moving in search of new habitats, leading to more frequent sightings in urban areas."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "So far, there have been no reported cases of damage caused by roe deer," and added, "We will monitor the trend of roe deer sightings and respond as needed."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by staff of The Korea Times.