Has the Exmoor Emperor been found?

Mounted trophy in the Hartnoll Hotel near Tiverton, Devon, is believed to be from the Emperor stag who went missing last year
The 'Emperor of Exmoor'
The Exmoor Emperor, who went missing last year, may have turned up as a trophy stag's head in a Devon hotel. Photograph: Richard Austin/Rex Features

Admittedly it is not as great a mystery as what happened to Lord Lucan or Shergar. But in a corner of the English west country the fate of the Emperor stag does still crop up in conversation from time to time.

So there was no little excitement when it emerged that a head purported to be that of the beast has turned up mounted on the wall of a boutique hotel.

The trophy was displayed in a sitting room at the Hartnoll Hotel near Tiverton in Devon, a few miles from the spot where the Emperor is said to have met his end, provoking admiring glances from some but complaints from others and anger from the animal rights lobby.

Reporters headed to Exmoor for Emperor Stag, the sequel, and were told by hotel owner Claire Carter she was giving people the chance to "get closer to nature". She refused to say how she had got hold of it – and then decided to remove the trophy from her wall until the "fuss" died down.

A brief recap for those who have not followed the ins and outs of a classic media animal saga: the national press descended on Exmoor in autumn last year after it was claimed that the Emperor had been shot by a trophy hunter.

The story they found was a complicated one. Pictures eventually emerged purporting to show the corpse of the Emperor. However, a second theory emerged that local people had put around the tale that the beloved beast had been killed to discourage other hunters who had it in their sights – but was very much alive. No wonder that the appearance of the head at the Hartnoll Hotel provoked such interest.

Carter, who has run the hotel for two years, was not giving many clues over the origin of her trophy.

"I was lent it by a member of the local shooting community and that is all I will say," said Carter. So it is the Emperor? "I have examined pictures and it does look remarkably similar," was as far as she went.

Richard Austin, the photographer who named the Emperor, said he was 95% sure it was the famed stag. Though its mane had been trimmed it had a bump on its right antler that seemed identical to one on the Emperor's.

But wildlife tracker Dave Webb, who runs deer safaris and says he had seen the Emperor many times, doubted it was the same animal. "If you compare the antlers there are a few differences which make me believe it's not the Emperor. The points nearest the eyebrows on the picture taken in the wild of the Emperor are twisted. On the one that's hanging on the wall in the hotel they are straight. Whether the owner genuinely believes it or not I don't know, but it's a good bit of advertising."

Not everyone was sure all publicity is good publicity. Kit Davidson, shooting consultant at the welfare charity Animal Aid, said the Emperor's death had been deeply unpopular.

"I'm absolutely amazed at the gumption of the hotel owner," said Davidson. "To come out and proudly boast you have one of the country's most magnificent creatures hanging on your wall is both unscrupulous and, frankly, professional suicide."

Fearing a backlash, Carter removed the head. "I have taken it down because I worry about anti-hunt protesters coming to the hotel. What I don't want is for the stag to become a symbol for that movement.

"Luckily most people around here are part of the shooting community. Many pubs in Exmoor will have things like this on the wall. Clearly I don't have a problem with hunting, shooting or fishing so if it is the Emperor I will be putting it back up once all the fuss has died down."

Today's best video

Today in pictures