SHAKEN wildlife photographer Keith Curtis fears 'something is out there' after the gruesome discovery of fox-ravaged muntjac deer carcasses in Penn Wood.

Mr Curtis, 65, of Hog Lane, Holmer Green found an emaciated young muntjac while walking his dogs in the middle of 300-acres Penn Wood, near the Amersham Road, in Penn, over the weekend. But he grew anxious after coming across yet another dead deer the following day.

"It was horrible especially as the foxes had already found them but there's no way a fox could have killed them," he said. "Alarm bells went off straight away. I've worked on gun and wildlife magazines and this is not natural causes. They were so close together and too far from the ring road to blame a car. There's something that's killing these little deer and we have to find out what."

Since the discovery he is afraid to take his three small dogs walking in the wood and warns other ramblers to be on their guard.

He said: "You are always looking over your shoulder. I doubt it is poison as other animals would show signs but you can't rule it out and my dogs could pick it up. It could be packs of dogs running together. There is no way a single dog could do this. There is a predator up there- but what is it?"

Chief Inspector Doug Davidson of the RSPCA, had not been alerted to the dead deer.

He said: "We cannot rule out any suspicious reasons for the deaths. It's unusual to find two deer carcasses close together with no obvious reason for their deaths. We want to speak to Mr Curtis and we'll certainly investigate it further."

John Brown, officer of the Woodland Trust, was unaware of the deaths, but dismissed the possibility of poison being to blame.

The Trust took over Penn Wood two years ago to save it from being turned into a golf course, He said: "How can you poison animals that are herbivore's. We certainly do not poison animals. The mortality rate of Muntjac deer does tend to go up during the winter months. I just wish they had contacted me when they discovered the muntjac so we could investigate. It is as much of a mystery to me as it is anyone else. "