That day… would things have been better if I didn’t run into him that day..?
A man brings a load of feed and begins to hike…
Informant: If I don’t do this, that fella will die. Since the fella’s life is at stake I have no choice but to do this. Well until the fella’s alive at least…
The informant says someone’s life is at stake and speeds up
We hiked for a while like that
and he looks down into a hole..?
Informant: This is it
Producer: Oh, didn’t know there’s a pit here
As we followed down where the informant pointed at, there’s a pit.
But then, the informant pours down the feed he brought down the pit
Perhaps someone’s living inside this pit..?
Informant: A water deer fell into the pit and it’s been about 25 days now, so I’ve been bringing food every day
Informant: The water deer was startled upon seeing me while hiking so he fell into the pit
A month ago, the water deer who got scared running into the informant who was hiking
fell into the pit and wasn’t able to come up every since…
But, we don’t see anything inside the pit
Informant: I think there’s another pit about 6 to 7 meters down. There’s a cave so when I pour down the feed and come back the next day, the feed is gone
To check out the situation
we decided to connect the camera to a rope and let it down the pit
A moment later, the camera reached the ground
Like how the informant described, there’s a cave-like space under the pit.
But at that moment!
His movements in the dark were captured!
Sensing our presence, he hid again
Informant: I think when the water deer fell into the pit he must have gotten injured
If the water deer fell into a pit that’s 6 meters deep, we need to check in person as he could’ve gotten an injury from the fall
With the help of a mountain rescue expert, we decided to go down the pit.
Mountain rescue expert: All this, it crumbles…
It’s a dangerous situation where the dirt walls crumble upon touching
On top of that, as it’s a stiff cliff with almost a straight slope going down the pit itself isn’t an easy task
Mountain rescue expert: I think there are several caves here. There’s one this way and that way
It’s a strange structure with caves below the 6M pit
The production crew decided to head into the caves and check out the spaces.
As we stepped inside the cave, unlike the entrance, inside the caves were pretty spacious.
At that moment
The water deer made an appearance from the inner part of the cave.
As soon as he sees the production crew he leaps all over as if he’s been started
Moreso jumps desperately trying to escape..!
But his efforts were made useless to jump over this 6M deep pit…
To this fella, this place is something he can never escape by himself no matter how hard he tries
Eventually, he hides again deep inside the cave.
Mountain rescue expert: I think we should give him some space and once he lets down (his guards) a bit…
Then..!
The fella who’s been extremely startled continues to try escaping…
Producer: Oh, we should get out quickly, woah it’s dangerous dangerous
Worried if they’d provoke him more, the production crew comes out of the pit
Informant: I was worried if he’d die but his condition looks about the same as when he first fell into the pit. Maybe it’s because he’s been eating well
We let down some water for him who must have been startled
Perhaps his survival is due to the informant hiking up the mountain, feeding him food and water every day
Informant: A living thing dying from being unable to eat anything, dying from starvation… whether human or animal they’re all living things, it shouldn’t happen.
One questionable thing
Why’s there such a deep pit right next to a hiking trailing, on a mountainside?
There are just a few questionable things to say the pit has been
The hikers say they think it’s an evacuation pit artificially made during the war (the Korean War)
Producer: During the war?
Hiker: Yeah
Hiker 2: I think it was dug during the Japanese invasion period. At the end of the invasion period
People are guessing perhaps it was a cave used as a shelter in times of war in the past
Carrying various kinds of vegetables, the informant hikes up the mountain again
A feed in the morning and vegetables at night, he’s been delivering water deer food for a month already
Informant: When I see that he ate the food I can know like ‘Oh, he came out and ate the food’. Then I feel proud.
The night comes
and with caution, the fella steps out of the cave
After looking around the surroundings, he begins to eat the vegetables the informant poured down the pit
And soon after looks up the pit…
but, as if he has surrendered he hides back into the caves.
Next day, as a hasty rescue can be more dangerous we decided to observe the cave structures and its environment
Wildlife animal expert: A pit this deep, the water deer couldn’t have avoided injuries. He’d either suffer from an acute fracture or dislocation.
If there weren’t anything like leaves here, he could have even died from a big shock.
In order to check his condition, we decided to go into the caves
Wildlife animal expert: Wow~ he’s hiding over there
To an unexpected light, he’s restless again…he seems to be looking for a place to hide…
How is he..?
Wildlife animal expert: He seems pretty healthy but there seems to be a bit of swelling in the cephalus and the foreleg. It’s swollen.
The swelling probably occurred either from a sprain or damage in the ligament from the fall
The right foreleg seems to be a bit swollen
Apart from that, there doesn’t seem to be any other injuries
Looking around the caves to look for any rescue measures…
Wildlife animal expert: Oh, there’s a skeleton here…
Wildlife animal expert: Oh, this is of a raccoon
Producer: A raccoon?
Wildlife animal expert: Yes, a raccoon
Wildlife animal expert: Sigh.. I don’t know why but a raccoon fell in here.
Wildlife animal expert: As it was stranded and since it couldn’t keep up its energy, it perished.
Wildlife animal expert: Oh my…
Producer: Huh? There’s something else here?
Wildlife animal expert: Another one.
Wildlife animal expert: This is a water deer’s skull. This is a water deer’s upper jaw. Upper jaw!!
That means many animals have died here…
Really, the bottom of the caves was filled with various animals’ skeletons
Wildlife animal expert: There’s a high chance this will recur. So we have to rescue the fella as soon as possible and need to take measures so this wouldn’t recur
Before it’s too late we need to rescue this fella from this deadly place.
Vet: We’ll play by the ear since water deers are very sensitive, bringing them to the hospital sometimes doesn’t end in good results. So we’ll see his condition and decide then.
First, we decided to rescue the water deer then see if we can release him back to nature.
We decided to proceed the rescue operation with local wildlife animal rescue center employees.
Rescue team: First, we’ll bring him out from the cave and it’ll be best to capture him with a capturing net.
As much as the water deers are sensitive, we need to rescue him speedily to reduce the stress level.
Rescue team: I don’t see him yet, wait
Waiting outside the cave
Then finally he appeared!!
Startled by the rescue team, he froze right away
Rescue team: Here we go!!!
As if he’s been cornered, seems to be scared to death…
At that moment!!
Rescue team: He’s going out!!!
Rescue team: Caught him, caught him!!!
He’s so strong it’s hard to control him who’s resisting
After some time, he seems to have calmed, he’s quiet
How startled must he have been…
As he's probably become very sensitive if we keep him for too long it can lead to death from shock so we elevated him up as fast as possible.
As soon as he was sent up, we checked his condition first.
Vet: If there’s an acute fracture or swelling then there needs to be a medical cure but since it’s been long his bones seem to have joined back. I think we can release him right away.
Decided on releasing him to nature right away.
The best is to release him in this mountain which is his original home..!
But we decided to release him far from the pit.
As soon as we release him…
He runs without even looking back
Like that he was back in nature
Informant: I’m so glad. I’m really happy and seeing him rescued today and set free, running I think I can sleep well tonight.
Rescue team: Seeing him runoff, he seems to be really enjoying his freedom. I’m glad.
We have more work to do
We decided to set a safety net around the pit so that there wouldn’t be any more incidents like this where animals living in this mountain fall into this pit.
Now we feel a bit relieved…
Hope you live a healthy life running around the mountain safely now