For hunters, the spring is a magical time of year as we bear witness to many of our familiar big game species growing in size. Known to many as the fawning season, this is the time of the year when fawns and calves from deer, elk, and moose begin to ‘drop’ and hopefully become recruited into our native herds.
Each year, however, comes with a few stories of unbeknownst residents that somehow manage to get in the middle of the process, either accidentally or purposefully.
As with most wild animals, deer too can become extremely protective of their young, as was reported from a small town on Victoria Island, British Columbia over the weekend. The police department in Saanich, BC received a pair of complaints regarding aggressive deer towards humans and their dogs.
In one instance, a deer reportedly attacked a man and his two dogs over the weekend.
“I heard this noise behind me because it is paved road and I turned around and it was a deer about three feet behind me,” resident Romeo Strasbourg told CBC News.
“My dog hadn’t heard it because my dog is partly blind and probably half deaf. But when she saw it she started growling and that’s when the deer attacked us.”
Another related incident saw a whitetail deer pursuing a dog inside of a residential yard in nearby Gordon Head, BC.
Police in the Saanich area has said that no one was harmed in either of the incidents, but is warning residents to keep their distance from deer, especially those with young fawns in tow.
“Although deer often look very peaceful and placid, they can become very aggressive if they are defending their young and more so if you are with a dog,” Staff Sgt. Chris Horsley said.
“For some reason, the deer and the dogs certainly have this interaction with each other and in both of these instances dogs were involved.”