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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.'s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease's progression.
What Michael Cohen said on the stand in Trump hush money case
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
Behind the barricades: How protesters spend their first days in a new encampment
Students in Montreal describe life in a newly erected encampment in Montreal as a whirlwind of preparations, from facing rain and a potential police crackdown to setting up a space for the exchange of ideas.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
Next 48 hours will be 'extremely challenging' for B.C. wildfire crews near Fort Nelson: officials
A wildfire burning dangerously close to Fort Nelson, B.C., has grown to more than 50 square kilometres, and officials are warning that the blaze's behaviour is expected to become more volatile over the next 48 hours.
Southern Ont. man charged with attempted murder in Timmins shooting
One of two men wanted for attempted murder in Timmins has been arrested, while a warrant has been issued for a second suspect, who fled police on foot.