Neighbours worried about deer living near busy Waterloo road

A group of Waterloo residents are concerned for the safety of a wild deer living in their neighbourhood.

People in the Bridge Street area say the animal keeps popping up along their busy road – and they’re asking for help to return it to its proper home.

Rebecca Scholl said she saw the deer roaming through her neighbourhood on Lexington Road Friday night. The next day it came back – this time standing only a few yards from her front door.

“It’s just odd to see it in our neighbourhood,” Scholl said Monday. “We’ve been here over 12 years. It’s not a regular occurrence.”

Several people have reached out to CTV News, saying they’ve seen the same deer multiple times and are worried about its safety.

“It’s a high traffic area, especially when it was here late at night,” Scholl said. “My main concern is that it’s going to get hit.”

“How are we going to get this deer back to where it came from?”

A photo shows the animal munching on someone's yard. (Submitted)

The Humane Society of Kitchener Waterloo and Stratford Perth received numerous calls about the overly-social ungulate over the weekend.

The organization said they sent an animal services officer to check on the deer and it appears to be in good health.

‘It’s not skittish at all’

So where did the deer come from? And why is it so comfortable around people?

“You can get really close to it – about four, five feet away – and it’s not skittish at all,” Scholl said.

According to wildlife experts, that’s not normal.

“No wild deer will allow people to approach,” said Chantal Theijn, a wildlife custodian at Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge. “So either somebody has been feeding or somebody, in fact, has been hand-raising it.”

In most cases, Ontario’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act prohibits keeping wild animals in captivity.

Theijn said that would explain the deer’s behaviour, although it would be hard to verify.

“Being that the deer is now free to go where it wants to go, we’d have to prove that someone kept it in captivity,” Theijn said.

Deer live where they want, say experts

When it comes to relocating the animal, experts say that’s up to the deer – and no one else.

“It’s a wild animal and they are free to be where they area,” Theijn said.

The humane society says people should give the deer time and keep their distance.

“Stay away from them, give them time to return to their own natural habitat,” Victoria Baby, CEO of the Humane Society of Kitchener Waterloo and Stratford Perth. “Don’t try and feed them or get close to them. Eventually they will return to where they came from.”

If you find a wild animal that is sick or injured, the province recommends calling a wildlife custodian.