The Farthing animals hold a meeting to discuss the death of the white deer and what should be done about it. Speedy (Whistler's mate) questions why the Farthing animals should feel so obliged to get involved with the situation, pointing out that the poachers have yet to prove a threat to any of them. However, earlier that winter when conditions were at their harshest, the deer had been gracious enough to share their hay with the Farthing Wood herbivores, so Fox reasons that they now owe it to the herd to help them out against the human threat. The Farthing animals thus organise a nightly vigil, in which they maintain a look-out for any signs of human activity around the park. When Fox spies the poachers approaching, he barks out a warning to the deer herd. Ultimately though, it comes a little too late. Most of the herd are able to flee to safety, but the poachers still manage to pick off one of the slower-moving stags.
HORROR FACTOR: 9. A pretty brutal death, in that it occurs onscreen, contains visible blood, and is followed by a particularly grim moment in which one of the poachers is seen running up to its crumpled body with a knife in hand. Mind you, I think that having access to freeze frame technology makes all the difference here. Whilst screencapping images from my DVD, I had the opportunity to observe just how nasty some of the individual frames of the unfortunate stag as it drops down dead really are.
NOBILITY FACTOR: 2. As before, no one wants die just to satisfy a couple of trigger-happy thugs who get their kicks from illegally gunning down rare wildlife.
TEAR-JERKER FACTOR: 4. No violin strings this time, but the choice of background music is still fairly emotional.
RATING: 15
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