A wild deer, which had made its way to the beach at Lowestoft, had to be rescued from rocks by the crew of the town's lifeboat.

The Coastguard had been alerted to what was thought to be a dog in the sea near Children's Corner on Lowestoft South Beach and there were fears that members of the public may go into the water to try to rescue the stricken animal.

The RNLI lifeguards, who have only recently begun their summer duties patrolling Lowestoft South Beach, were called from the nearby lookout point to check the situation.

One quickly cycled to the South Pier and was able to confirm that it was actually a muntjac deer on the rocks, which was unable to escape – and that no people were in the water.

The coastguard requested that the Lowestoft RNLI lifeboat launch from its mooring in the harbour adjacent to the incident.

The lifeboat launched just before noon on Wednesday, June 6 and coxswain John Fox said: 'We arrived at the scene within minutes and could see the deer on the rocks.

'It wasn't safe to get the lifeboat any nearer so I took the boat into the shallows on the beach side of the rock armour breakwater and crewmen Ben Arlow and Andy Smith waded from the lifeboat onto the beach and then climbed onto the rocks to where the deer was standing.

'When they approached the scared animal it was a bit distressed and yelping.

'They managed to get hold of it, although it was trying to jump out of their arms and run off.'

The volunteer crewmen managed to wrap the deer in a blanket and they then had to move carefully from rock to rock, passing it from one to the other before finally wading ashore and taking it along the beach and into the lifeboat station.

Here a sizeable crowd of spectators, who had gathered on the pier, gave a cheer at the end of what was 'a tricky rescue,' according to a lifeboat spokesman.

The Lowestoft and Southwold Coastguard Rescue Team also attended the scene and they called the RSPCA to tend to the deer, who was bleeding having injured itself while on the rocks.

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