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As of April 26, 2026, an animal rescue charity is asking for public help after a deer was allegedly chased and struck by a car in Bray, a coastal town in County Wicklow, Ireland. The attack reportedly left the deer with two broken legs, and veterinary staff had no choice but to euthanize the animal.
My Lovely Horse Rescue released a statement on social media saying it had received a video that appeared to show a driver deliberately pursuing the deer at speed with the intention of hitting it. The charity did not publish the video, describing it as “extremely disturbing” and too graphic to share publicly.
The group later discovered the deer in a residential garden nearby. A vet confirmed the severity of the injuries and made the decision to end the animal’s life.
“We are utterly heartbroken and sickened,” the rescue group said. “We cannot understand how anyone could deliberately target a defenseless animal in this way.”
The organization asked anyone who witnessed the incident, or who has any information that could help an investigation, to contact the local Garda station. Gardaí is the word for Irish police. The charity also asked for dashcam footage from people who may have been in the area at the time.
Bray is a busy seaside area, and deer are known to wander into its outskirts from the surrounding Wicklow Mountains. Residents have reported increasing encounters with wildlife, particularly at dawn and dusk. That makes it all the more troubling that this incident appears to have involved a vehicle actively pursuing the animal, rather than an accidental collision, according to the rescue group.
The group’s social media post said the incident is believed to have occurred in the Bray area, though the exact location has not been publicly identified. The charity decided not to release the video because it feared the footage would upset and distress viewers.
Animal welfare experts say deliberate attacks on deer are especially difficult to watch because the animals are usually harmless, and they often suffer for a long time before they are found. In this case, the deer was found with two broken legs, meaning the animal would have been unable to move or escape.
In Ireland, animal cruelty cases fall under the Animal Health and Welfare Act of 2013. The law makes it a criminal offense to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal. People convicted of cruelty can face prison time of up to five years and fines as high as €200,000.
Authorities in Ireland have used the act to prosecute cruelty in multiple high-profile cases, but wildlife crimes can still be difficult to prove without witnesses or clear video evidence.
The rescue group’s appeal is likely to put pressure on gardaí to investigate whether a criminal offense was committed. Under Irish law, a person who deliberately drives an animal down could be charged with animal cruelty, even if the animal’s death was not the driver’s primary goal.
Social media users expressed shock and anger after the charity’s appeal was shared. Several local residents commented that they had seen the same deer in the hours before the incident. Others called for better enforcement and tougher sentences for crimes against wildlife.
One commenter said it was “one of the worst things” they had read in a long time, while another urged anyone with information to come forward immediately. The rescue group’s post was widely shared across Facebook and Twitter, with many people expressing frustration that such a case had happened at all.
Animal welfare campaigners say cases like this can go unsolved unless members of the public take the initiative to report what they know. They point out that drivers who deliberately hit an animal can still be prosecuted even if police are not contacted at the scene, as long as video evidence or witness statements are available.
The charity received the video from someone who apparently saw the incident or obtained the footage from another source. The group said it is not publishing the video because of its graphic nature, but the footage has likely already been shared privately among people in the Bray area.
The rescue group warned that sharing the video can cause further harm and upset. Instead, it urged people to send any footage they have to the authorities.
A video showing the car’s speed, the moment of impact, or the deer’s injuries could be crucial to identifying the driver. Even a screen recording or a short clip from a phone may be enough to help gardaí trace the vehicle involved.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Bray Garda station. Members of the public can call the non-emergency Garda line or visit a local station. Information can be shared confidentially, and people do not need to wait for a formal investigation to be announced.
If a driver or nearby resident has dashcam footage from the route around the time of the incident, police may ask to see the original file rather than a copy. So people are advised not to delete or overwrite footage, even if they think it does not show anything important.
The rescue group also said that people should not approach or confront the driver themselves. Instead, they should report the matter to gardaí and avoid taking any action that could put their own safety at risk.
The incident has also renewed conversation about the risks faced by deer in suburban and semi-rural areas. My Lovely Horse Rescue is best known for its work with horses and donkeys, but the charity has repeatedly spoken out about cruelty to wild animals.
The deer’s killing has now become part of a wider pattern: as humans build deeper into wildlife habitats, encounters between animals and vehicles will happen more often. In most cases those are accidents. But this incident, if the allegations are confirmed, would fall into a much darker category.
The group’s appeal ends with a simple request: anyone who knows what happened, or who saw the car around that time, should tell gardaí.
“Please, if you saw anything, come forward,” the rescue group said. “This animal had no way of defending itself, and she deserved better.”
At the time of writing, no arrests have been reported in connection with the incident. The investigation, if open, would likely focus on identifying the driver from the video and from witness statements taken in the Bray area.
The case has become one of the most talked-about animal cruelty stories in Ireland this month, and the rescue group says it will continue to push for answers until the person responsible is held to account.
