Hot news from Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where the signs warning users not to approach the park’s herd of wild fallow deer have now been replaced by a much more direct “do not feed” notice. The old signs (see below) had been erected in the spring of this year, but had baffled both the park’s staff and its users as to what they meant. The new one, with its use of the internationally recognised red circle and diagonal stripe, is much better designed. It is also nicely drawn, with the deer, the hand and the food reduced to their simplest possible forms.
Whether it will stop the dozens of people who turn up each day with bags of carrots has yet to be seen. I recently found a Tupperware box on the path which was full of carrot pieces, nicely peeled and sliced. Some people obviously have too much time on their hands.

The old sign, now removed.