A 10-second video uploaded on Oct. 2 showed a wild Sambar deer briefly sauntering by the side of the road.

According to the video's caption, the incident happened in the vicinity of Mandai, and appeared to have been filmed from a vehicle moving down the road.

Deer runs away

In the video, the deer can be seen walking up to the road, whereupon it then turns in the direction of the vehicle, which appears to be close to a complete stop.

Shortly afterwards, the deer runs back in the direction of where it came from.

Online commenters amazed, wonder if it tastes good

Many online commenters who reacted to the video were amazed at the sight of the majestic animal.

Others wondered if the animal might make for a tasty dish.

Still others wondered if the animal was an escapee from the zoo or Night Safari.

This is not possible as the deer are recognised to be wild.

One theory posits that they escaped from an enclosure many years ago.

Relatively safe encounter with the animal, compared to previous incidents

As far as encounters with this particular species go, this incident appears to have been one of the safer ones.

Previously, on Sep. 20, a Sambar deer literally became the proverbial deer in the headlights when it attempted to cross Bukit Timah Expressway, only to change its mind at the last second.

The following night on Sep. 21, a motorcyclist hit a deer along Upper Thomson Road.

The motorcyclist was hospitalised, while the condition of the deer was unknown as it retreated back into the forest.

The same road also saw a similar accident in March 2019 when a Sambar deer ran and crashed into a motorcyclist along an empty Upper Thomson Road at night.

Less than two dozen deer Sambar left in the wild

There are believed to be less than two dozen Sambar deer left in the wild in Singapore.

Moreover, there also appears to be an increase in the frequency of Sambar deer getting hit on roads.

This increase could be due to a combination of factors, such as habitat disturbance, as well as the ubiquity of dashboard cameras these days.

Other incidents involving Sambar deer from before 2019:

Top image collage from Everyday SG Facebook