Oh deer! Surreal moment two 100kg bucks trot down hospital corridor after wandering through open door

Two deer were caught prancing down an empty hospital corridor after getting in through an open door.

The pair of fallow bucks — thought to weigh 15st 10lb (100kg) each — were filmed roaming through Derriford Hospital, Plymouth.

Footage of the deer trotting casually, side-by-side, went viral on social media.

Voices in the background of the ten-second clip could be heard laughing, with one asking: ‘Are they going?’

Both deer left the building after roughly three minutes. Staff ‘gently encouraged’ them to leave.

Neither came into contact with any patients during their Monday morning visit, the hospital confirmed.

A spokesperson for the site said the deer broke into level five of the hospital via the back door.

This section of the hospital houses the neonatal intensive care unit — a department which provides around-the-clock care to sick or preterm babies.

Cleaning teams were called to sanitise the corridor after the deer were ushered out.

The surreal incident prompted hospital bosses to issue a plea to staff and visitors to close all the doors behind them.

A University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust spokesperson said: ‘Those who live near Derriford will know that deer are no strangers to the surrounding areas.

‘The deer accessed via a door that had been left open.

Footage of the deer trotting casually, side-by-side, went viral on social media. Voices in the background of the ten-second clip could be heard laughing, with one asking: ‘Are they going?’

‘And we would remind staff and visitors to please close doors behind them and not to feed the deer as they are wild animals and shouldn’t be encouraged within a busy hospital setting.

‘We will be monitoring that entrance and increasing our security patrols at night to ensure the deer do not try and visit again.’

Twitter users were unsurprised by the unusual visit from the pair, as one commented on the video saying the animals frequent the site and carpark regularly.

Samantha Robinson said that during her appointments at the hospital, she has seen deer running around the site and car parks.

One local deer expert said the incident could have been ‘dangerous’. 

Paul James, who runs social media account Plymouth Deer, said: ‘Fallow deer should be wild and running away from human activity.

‘When you have a 100kg male buck in a ward of a hospital you have a safety issue, especially when they are rutting, which they will in a matter of weeks.

‘They are dangerous.’ 

Fallow deer like the pair roaming Derriford Hospital can be 4ft tall when adults — but with their antlers, males can be up to 6ft in height.