Deer found killed in Amsterdam park

After discovering the skinned carcass of a fallow deer in Amsterdam's Westerpark on Tuesday afternoon, a leg of a deer was also found in the center of the capital. The police report on Facebook that the leg was found on Rapenburgerstraat. The police will investigate what happened to the deer and whether the leg came from the same animal.

The Amsterdam Animal Ambulance spoke of "the most bizarre discovery ever." Volunteers of the ambulance service found the deer carcass after a report. According to director Margje de Jong, the animal's skin was "completely stripped off," and the corpse was decomposing. "It looked awful," said De Jong. "Large areas of skin were gone." It's still unclear whether that was the work of an animal or human being, for example, someone who skinned the deer and then dumped it.

Fallow deer are not naturally found in Westerpark, said De Jong. "In the dune area, but that is quite a distance away. There is a green corridor that they could cross, but that has never happened as far as I know. We have no idea what happened."

The animal ambulance removed the deer carcass and reported the find to the police. The carcass is now in an Animal Ambulance refrigerator, reserved for the police. A police spokesperson could not comment on the investigation on Wednesday evening.