• Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      Deer imprint pretty hard when they are young. If it was raised from a fawn it would pretty much think it’s human.

      That’s why it’s difficult to rehabilitate orphaned deer fawns, because if you don’t do it right they will very likely end up becoming a danger to people by expecting food from strangers and wandering urban environments, causing road hazards and potentially assaulting people who don’t feed them or try to block them from food. Many wildlife rehab centers refuse to take in orphan fawns because the success rate is so low and it takes a lot of resources to do it properly.

      It’s also illegal almost everywhere to raise a wild deer fawn as a pet. They may become fairly tame but they are not domesticated and can easily become dangerous. If this deer got spooked it could easily kill that dog with one stomp of the hoof.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        My neighbors diagonally across from me feed deer in their back yard. I have a not great photo from a week or two ago, when there were 14 deer in the yard. I think I got 12 in the photo. The bucks usually stay up in the treeline guarding, but this year we have two bucks, probably a couple of two year old brothers, that behave like the fawns and doe. One was 4 point the other was 6 point last time I saw them. They aren’t in the photo.

        Lemmy is saying can’t upload image, let’s see if I can fix it.

        There we go. 13 of the 14.

      • Drusas@fedia.io
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        5 days ago

        This is why the deer at Nara are such a menace. Cute, yes, but they do attack people, which is why they get their antlers trimmed down.

        One attacked me the instant a cracker vendor handed me a pack of crackers. Little jerk.

    • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee
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      5 days ago

      I grew up in the rural midwest and our “neighbor” a few miles down the dirt road kept a few as pets and we could feed them grass right out of our hand. It was pretty magical to us kids. I’ve often wondered if this is why I turned out to be so averse to deer hunting, a yearly activity that just about everyone around me including both my parents excitedly participates in. I understand the necessity and I happily eat venison, I just don’t understand the thrill people seem to get. I did it the first few years I was of age because it was expected, but never again after I moved out.