A California homeowner was recording what he thought was a friendly encounter with a deer in his backyard, when all of a sudden that deer went after the family dog. Luckily, there was a fence in between the deer and dog, named Murray.
“I had taken a couple of minutes of video beforehand where everyone was just kind of hanging out,” the homeowner, identified as Darren, told KTVU.
He thinks Murray may have made slight move towards the deer but that’s all it took. The video lasts just 18 seconds but it shows three different attempts by the deer to get to the dog.
“A couple of times I saw the deer’s hoof go through there and I thought man that's kind of pretty interesting to see that all go down. I was like oh no my gates going to break and they are going to get in here and kill us all,” he said.
Darren says he and his wife see deer all the time but most of the time the deer run away before they even get outside.
When the California Department of Fish and Game saw the video they said that it’s not uncommon to have aggressive buck in the fall during mating season or in the spring when they’re protecting their fawns.
Officials there say they won’t step in unless a person is either hurt or killed. They add something like that is very rare, although in 2005, a San Diego man was killed when a buck attacked him in his backyard.
That same year there were several cases of pets being attacked by aggressive buck in the Bay Area.
Dr. Peter Bowie is a veterinarian at Pet Emergency Specialty Center of Marin in San Rafael. He says his office sees pets come in a couple of times of year after dangerous encounters with deer and often hears about other close calls.
He says his own dog was chased by an angry deer that just kept coming.
Dr. Bowie also watched the video and says it’s a good thing that the fence was in between the deer and the dog because there is little doubt that the deer would have won that fight and the injuries can be serious even fatal.
“We can get all kinds of different injuries penetrating chest wounds just deep wounds to the skin muscle tears all those things are possible associated with a deer,” he said.
As for Darren, he says his dog Murray is pretty lucky. Since the encounter he’s checked his fence and reinforced it.
He adds that he’s seen a couple of fawn since the incident so he’s pretty sure that is what’s behind the unusual behavior and he says he understands.
“I just know I wouldn't want to mess with my wife if someone is coming after her kids so I wouldn't want to mess with that deer either,” he said.
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