Blood constituents and clinical findings in captured fallow deer (Dama dama)

In Italy, fallow deer is the most commonly farmed cervid and it is increasing in number. However, in farming conditions, some managment practices, commonly used in domestic animals, have been shown to be stressful for deer. Therefore, to safeguard and optimized deer welfare and managment it is necessary to gain a good knowledge of the deer stress response to routinary farm operations. For this purpose, a study to determine the impact of various components of capture managment on the physiological and clinical state of a group of extensively farmed fallow deer was carried out.