A bizarre TikTok video showing a garda car chasing after a deer on the M50 motorway is blowing up online.
The video, which was filmed on the M50 in Dublin earlier this week, was shared by TikTok user @daviddunne18 showing the deer racing down the busy motorway with gardai in hot pursuit. The video was captioned "Deer on the run" and it's already racked up 96,000 views.
In the video, Gardai can be heard with their sirens blaring as they attempt to cut off the fleeing deer and get it out of harm's way from oncoming traffic. They then veer off the motorway at exit 10 near Ballymount.
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In the comments section, TikTok users were unimpressed with the handling of the frightened animal. One person wrote: "Yeah, blare put your siren, that’ll deffo help stop the deer from running."
Another person wrote: "I don’t think deer understand Garda sirens….just saying." A third wrote: "Ah poor deer he's frightened."
A fourth person suggested: "They are trying to keep the deer away from the road so it doesn’t jump in front of a driver which can end up not too good."
Deer are a fairly common sight on Irish roads at this time of year, with the 'rutting' or mating season taking place between mid October to December. Male fallow deer travel several miles a day in search of a mate, crossing busy roads in the process. During mating season, female deer can also sprint across roads from stags too, which increases the risk of dangerous collisions.
According to the Irish Deer Commission, 13% of motorists say they have been involved in an accident with an animal in the last five years, with latest figures showing that there are around 400 to 500 crashes between deer and motorists each year.
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