Callum the stag was considered
a "local legend" in the Highlands of Scotland. The beautiful red deer was famous for leisurely strolling among tourists coming to visit the beautiful nature of the Highlands. Sadly, the reason he became so comfortable around humans was because of visitors' tendency to feed him human snacks.
And that is the reason he was ultimately killed.
Sign the petition to urge the Scottish government to create a public education campaign to stop tourists from feeding wildlife from Callum, so we can protect his siblings and cousins from death!Human food is not safe for wild animals to eat, as it does not contain the nutrition they require and is often high in sugars that rot wildlife's teeth. That's exactly what happened to Callum. After years of accepting food gifts from humans, his body had begun to give out and he was suffering from serious medical decline.
Apparently, this led to his teeth rotting, leaving him unable to sufficiently forage for appropriate, nutritious foods - the types of food he actually needed to eat to survive.
That created a vicious cycle in which the only food he was able to access was more snacks delivered by friendly humans. Which caused his teeth to rot further.
This horrible cycle continued until his body was so ill, the authorities with the National Trust Scotland determined
they had to humanely euthanize him to save him from painfully and slowly starving to death.This wasn't Callum's fault! This was the fault of
humans who had good intentions and thought they were offering him a kindness - but instead were actually harming him, causing him to deteriorate and starve.
We have to protect more animals like Callum from being killed, even though they were innocent. That's why we're asking the government of Scotland to create a public education campaign in Callum's honor, enforcing laws against feeding the wildlife. Sign the petition to save the animals!