MOTORISTS are being urged to slow down when driving through Epping Forest and nearby roads following a sharp increase in the number of deer killed in accidents.

Epping Forest is home to about 250 fallow deer and countless muntjac deer who regularly cross roads in search of grazing, territory and potential mates.

At this time of year the fallow deer are in rut and consequently the male deer, or bucks, are more mobile as they seek to establish a territory and to mate with the females.

This increased mobility makes them even more vulnerable to road traffic and there have been several fatalities recently where cars travelling at speed have hit a deer trying to cross a road.

In one week in October six deer were killed, including a mature buck, which was killed at High Beech in an area with a 20mph speed limit.

Epping Forest Superintendent Jeremy Wisenfeld said: "It's unlikely in this instance that the car that killed the buck was observing the speed limit. If it had done so it's possible the accident could have been avoided.

"Cars are regularly travelling too fast and endangering the lives of the deer and other wildlife for whom the forest is their natural home.

"If we're not careful we will end up with a forest that's made up of several isolated wedges of habitat that wildlife is unable to move freely through.

"Hitting a deer is not only likely to be fatal for the animal but can also cause severe damage to the car and even serious personal injury."

In recent years, conservators have implemented a programme of installing reflectors at popular deer crossing points. They 'dazzle' deer with a car's oncoming headlights so that they are dissuaded from crossing until the road is clear.