Spain Hunting Lodge Overrun by Deer a Parable of Bust: Mortgages

Spanish developer Luis Gonzalez Chozas used to boast of the nobility of the horses at his 600-hectare (1,480-acre) hunting estate in the lee of the San Pedro Hills, one of the best for boar and deer in the region.

Now, just two years after he lost the property to the bank, wild sheep roam at will and with no hunting, the deer population has multiplied more than fivefold, said Fabian Vinagre, the caretaker of the estate near the Spanish city of Caceres 305 kilometers (190 miles) west of Madrid. Visitors are rare these days, hosted by Sareb, Spain’s bad bank, which is trying to sell the property before the animals complete their takeover.