“We not only discourage it, it’s illegal … “
‘Pet’ deer attacks woman on two consecutive days
Aug 5, 2020
Tuscumbia, Alabama — Emily Thrasher has numerous photos of Dixie the doe, a “neighborhood deer” that was treated like a pet by many of the residents of the Cedar Hills Estates subdivision off Baker Lane.
Thrasher has photos of the deer in her yard, eating watermelon, eating pork rinds, as well as pictures of the animal with her daughter, with toddlers, lying in the grass with her fawns, and in their shop with her husband.
She said Dixie was like a dog, and even came into her house and laid down in front of her fireplace.
“My kids have played with her,” Thrasher said.
Dixie was a fawn when she was found by a former resident who raised her until he moved out of the neighborhood. The deer continued to live in the nearby woods and has had at least two sets of offspring.
The doe, however, was “euthanized” by an Alabama Fish and Wildlife Game Warden after it attacked an elderly woman on July 30 and again on July 31, according to Marianne Hudson, a conservation outreach specialist with the Alabama Department of Conservation.
“There was a resident who was attacked by a deer that was apparently known to many residents,” Hudson said. “It was raised illegally in captivity. It was free-ranging at the time. In the past, the deer had been raised illegally and consistently fed and invited into homes in this neighborhood.”
Hudson said the woman was attacked by the deer at her mailbox on July 30, then attacked a second time in her garage on July 31. Emergency services responded to the scene after a call was made to Colbert E-911.
The woman was treated by EMTs with Helen Keller Ambulance Services, and was transported to Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield by private vehicle for treatment.
Thrasher said the woman was more than 80 years old and frail. She said the women suffered a cut on her leg that required two stitches.
Hudson said the deer tried to attack the woman a third time while she was trying to get into the vehicle.
A Colbert County deputy sheriff had to stand between the deer and the woman so she could get into the vehicle, Hudson said.
Hudson said Game Warden Jerrod Poole arrived and determined the deer was a threat and euthanized the animal … Read more.
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