RE: Deer in Ireland
"The Killarney herd of Sika Deer is one of only three in the world that are nearest to the pure bred Sika."
That can be somewhat misleading, as there are quite a few populations of pure sika strain, it really depends on which subspecies you are talking about. For instance the Dombrowski and Manchurain are often inter bread and treated by many as the same sub species due to their common traits. The sikas in Japan and the outlying islands are mostly purebred stock. (as are the Vietanese species) The ones located in mongolia and manchuria are more likely to cross breed with each other, and of course those populations that have been introdused to non native areas (england/scotland/texas) are much more likely to be crossbread. In fact there are concerns from some scientists that some of the sub species may not even exist as a pure strain anymore due to cross breeding. The wild sikas in Maryland/Virginia are pure Yakushimea sikas, and since they are protected in japan, may be the only huntable wild population of them! Sorry for rambling but sikas are a bit of a fascination for me and I find there toxonomy and history very intriguing.
All that stated that stag pictured is one heck of a Red Stag for ireland, where they generally don't get as big as the ones you see in magazines from New Zealand or Argentina.