Causes of perinatal mortality in farmed fallow deer (Dama dama)

SUMMARY The causes of perinatal mortality in farmed fallow deer in the Camden region of New South Wales were determined between 1982 and 1987. The results of 144 necropsies on fawns showed that anteparturient and parturient deaths occurred in 33 (22.9%) of cases, with postparturient deaths accounting for 99 (69.8%), and undiagnosed causes the remaining 12 (8.3%). The most common cause of postparturient death (43.1%) was exposure/starvation of fawns that had birthweights lower than the average for surviving fawns on these same farms (3.01 kg and 4.12 kg, respectively). These results provide good evidence of the correlation between low birthweight and perinatal mortality in fallow deer on Australian deer farms.