A Deer as a pet?

[Pembo]

This is a new one to me. Our neighbors grandkids are raising a deer as a pet. They bought it to raise. It's about 6 mo and was in a crate in the bedroom when we were there today. The kids take it outside on a leash so it won't jump the fence. They are planning on getting another one and trying to breed them. I guess the grandkids live out in the country somewhere.

One of the neighbors said that the granddaughter had a popsicle in her mouth and let it take it right out of her mouth.

I've never heard of having a deer as a pet. They aren't raising it for food either.

Has anyone ever heard of this???????

 

[pearlieq]

Never heard of it, but I was thinking "more power to them" until I got to the breeding part. What a dumb idea!

At least in our area there's already a major overpopulation issue. Why create more deer when we have to cull them?

 

[2xcited2slp]

This is the craziest thing I have ever heard!!

 

[texasthree]

I was wondering if it was legal. I know in areas of Michigan its illegal to keep a wild animal as a pet. I have never heard of having a deer as a pet. GEEZ, why dont they just get a dog like normal people!

 

[goofyforlife]

i would think that deer would qualify as illegal to keep as pets because they are wildlife.

(like raccons or squirrels or other exotics)

 

[JadenLayne]

Actually its possible. My son's math teacher is married to a Wild Life Officer. They actually live on a local Reserve. They had a mother deer die in labor and kept and are raising the baby. It stays mostly in their yard but the son takes it for walks in the woods etc. I don't know if they will keep it or let it free in the Reserve when it gets older. Its so tame though, you can walk right up to it.

 

[tiggersmom2]

In Georgia it is against the law to keep a deer as a pet.

 

[paigevz]

Actually, I had heard that more people were doing this, and also those little deer-like muntjacs, too.

Another fad that'll have people breeding everywhere, and then lots of people who have no clue what to do with them will own them. Crazy.

 

[poohandwendy]

I don't really have a big problem with people keeping a deer as a pet, as long as they protect it and care for it properly. But, I am really, really against people taking an animal like that and breeding it. We actually have to thin the deer population here due to overpopulation. I just see it as selfish, reproducing a wild animal that is already being killed in other areas.

 

[Pembo]

We have to thin our deer population here in NE Ohio as well. They didn't find this baby somewhere, they bought it, specifically to raise as a pet.

bumping for the day crowd.......

 

[ducklite]

Ah...the next "fad" pet. Soon enough we'll see them abandoned and unable to fend in the wild, or overwhelming shelters who have no idea how to care for them if they'll even accept them.

I really hate people sometimes.

Anne

 

[babiesX2]

My uncle lives alone in a rural area. He has had several that he found while walking in the woods. The mother would be nearby dead. I guess his is more of a rescue type situation. He bottle feeds them and cares for them until they are healthy. When they are older they leave on their own. He always names them Bambi!

 

[Virgo10]

Looks like my top 10 dumb things people do with animals list will have to be rearranged as that one will certainly bump off an item that's already there.

Just more morons who think animals are toys.

 

[ducklite]

My uncle lives alone in a rural area. He has had several that he found while walking in the woods. The mother would be nearby dead. I guess his is more of a rescue type situation. He bottle feeds them and cares for them until they are healthy. When they are older they leave on their own. He always names them Bambi!

Thta's entirely different. He is keeping orphaned animals alive unitl they are old enough to fend for themselves in the wild. He's not keeping them restrained and forcing them to stay. Like you said, when they are older they leave on their own back into the wild where they belong.

Anne

 

[LindaR]

How absolutely............stupid! These same idiots are going to be shocked when the deer grows up and severely injures or kills one of their kids. The deer will then be killed too for doing what WILD animals do. How stupid can people get! A wild animal IS and will always BE a wild animal. Idiots.

 

[babiesX2]

Thta's entirely different. He is keeping orphaned animals alive unitl they are old enough to fend for themselves in the wild. He's not keeping them restrained and forcing them to stay. Like you said, when they are older they leave on their own back into the wild where they belong.

Anne

I know. I should have added that I too think it is not smart to breed wild animals and restrain them in a pen, cage, or (even worse) house!

 

[momof3disneyholics]

This reminded me of my great aunt and uncle. When I was growing up they had a farm and used to rescue baby squirrels that had fallen out of trees and take care of them and then try to release them. The squirrels would almost always to choose to stay with my great aunt and uncle instead of going back out to the wild. They would live outside but the second my uncle would walk outside of farmhouse the squirrels would hear that door open and run up on the porch to greet him. It wouldn't be all the squirrels in the yard just the ones that he had nurtured. These were the only rescued animals that I had ever been around but it makes me wonder how other animals adapt to the "real" world after being set free by humans after being care for.

 

[VSL]

Wow. They get pretty big.

Hope they've got enough room for it...

 

[luvdzne]

Why are they breeding it? I could see if they were helping a baby that lost it's mother and then planed on releasing it. But to keep it for a pet and then try to breed it.

 

[paigevz]

I also read/heard somewhere that more people are killed by deer every year than any other wild animal..................don't know how true it is.........