Deer terrorizes Okanagan city

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This article was published 12/06/2011 (5543 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KELOWNA, B.C. — They may be adorable, but the birth of a pair of big-eyed, long-legged fawns in a residential area in B.C.’s Okanagan could mean danger for people and their pets.

It’s a lesson Marissa Baecker learned the hard way.

The Kelowna resident was walking her dog in the Mission district recently when she and her dog were attacked by the fawns’ over-protective mother.

“She saw my dog and came at it,” Baecker said. “It must have looked ridiculous.”

Baecker started running down the road away from the deer, dragging her border collie with her.

Traffic stopped in both directions, and Baecker dodged between cars in an attempt to escape the angry deer. One woman rolled down her window and told Baecker to climb in.

As the deer glared at her through the windshield, Baecker scrambled in, dog and all, and was whisked away.

The encounter left her shaken.

“This is right in the middle of the city,” Baecker said in disbelief. “I was just going to Starbucks.”

She called Kelowna’s conservation office to report the incident, but was told nothing could be done about the aggressive doe without harming her or the fawns.

Relocating an animal is a stressful experience, said Kelowna conservation officer Ed Seitz. The deer would have to be tranquilized and could become so traumatized she would abandon her young.

But public safety comes first, and Seitz said if the deer continues to be a threat, it will be killed.

The deer’s days may be numbered. It has been terrorizing dog owners in the neighbourhood for a week, and Seitz said the best thing for the deer and dog owners is for people to avoid walking their pets in the area.

The deer’s behaviour is instinctive, Seitz said.

Her fawns are too young to protect themselves and the mother is trying to scare off dogs, which she perceives as threats.

— The Canadian Press