A man playing cat and mouse with an angry, testosterone-fueled stag around the base of a tree in a London park finally escaped the attacking animal by climbing the tree, which had served as his only protection from the business end of those deadly antlers. Fortunately this ended well, so seeing video of the red deer chasing the man up a tree has a certain amusement factor. ITN News has the video in its report:

Bushy Park in west London, where this incident occurred, is home to some 125 red deer, and it just happens to be mating season. Unfortunately for the unidentified man in the video, he got a bit too close as he came upon two stags about to fight, as they do during the rut.

One turned on the man, chasing him to a tree protected by a wooden fence. The animal and man danced around the tree with the animal in full attack mode, prompting the man to plea, “I need some help here!”, according to MailOnline.

Passer-by Lisa Acremom captured the moment on her mobile phone and shared the story. From MailOnline:

Lisa, speaking to The Guardian, said: ‘There were two stags parallel going to have a fight and all of a sudden a man has got too close and was chased by a stag, who was hopped up for rutting season.

‘He was just walking along the path and stopped as he thought the stag was going to cross and it took its choice and went after the bloke instead of the other stag.’

Eventually the bearded man clambers up the rickety fence and into the tree to escape his bellowing tormentor.

‘Nobody could get close to the bloke to help so when he went up the tree I dialed 101 and phoned the police,’ Lisa added.

With nothing to chase after its prey disappeared into the leaves, the deer moved on and police eventually helped the relieved man out of the tree.

According to the report, warning signs are posted throughout the park, instructing visitors to keep their distance from deer, particularly during mating season.

Obviously they’ve had a history of encounters in England over the years. From MailOnline:

Deer have roamed freely in The Royal Parks since 1529. There are two million deer throughout Britain, more than at any time since the Norman Conquest, despite an annual cull of up to 350,000 animals.

And you’d best stay away from them–especially during the rut.