Australian police rescue naked sunbathers who fled to forest after being startled by a deer

Police described the men as ‘idiots’

Australia Nudists Rescued (AAP IMAGE)

Police have fined two men who had to be rescued from an Australian forest after they were startled by a deer while nude sunbathing on a beach and became lost.

The men called for help about 6 p.m. Sunday after they became lost in the Royal National Park south of Sydney a police statement said.

“Unbelievably, we saw two men sunbaking naked on a beach on the South Coast ” Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters. “They were startled by a deer, ran into the national park... and got lost."

Their rescue involved police aircraft, the State Emergency Service and ambulance officers.

It is not clear exactly what the deers did to startle the sunbathers and cause them to flee into the bush.

The younger man was found “naked and carrying a backpack” while the older man was “partially clothed,” the police statement said.

Mr Fuller described the pair as “idiots”.

“Clearly putting people at risk by leaving home without a proper reason, ... then getting lost in the national park and diverting important resources away from the health operation, I think they should be embarrassed,” Fuller said.

They had broken recently imposed pandemic rules as covide resrictions were again imposed in the Sydney region.

The men, aged 30 and 49, were fined 1,000 Australian dollars ($759) each for breaching a stay-home pandemic order that restricted them to Sydney, police said Monday.

The pair were among 44 people fined by police on Sunday for breaching a public health order after Sydney began a two-week lockdown on Friday due to a new COVID-19 cluster.

Figures show that an outbreak of the virus in Sydney, linked to the highly contagious Delta variant, reached almost 130 cases on Monday.

Worried officials have said the pandemic is at a “critical stage” in Australia.

Despite that the couple of naked sunbathers became easy targets on social media, where they were mocked for what had happened, and some pointing out that the real victims were the deers.