By Tim Binnall
Wildlife officials in Missouri responded to a rather unusual call this past week when someone spotted a deer wandering around a neighborhood with the word 'pet' painted on its side and wearing a collar. The strange case was reportedly revealed this past Sunday when the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office shared a jaw-dropping picture of the oddly marked animal on their Facebook page and explained that it had been seen in the rural community of Festus in late September. They went on to stress to residents that "wild animals should not be considered pets and particularly deer should not be moved from their habitat."
Although the Facebook post did not indicate how the animal might have wound up in such a state nor what became of it after officers from the state's Department of Conservation responded to the call, residents were understandably intrigued by both questions and, fortunately, answers soon followed. Conservation official Scott Corley speculated to a local media outlet that "somebody most likely took that deer out of the wild as a fawn and tried to keep it as a pet and put a collar on it." As for why the word 'pet' was painted on its side, the prevailing theory is that the misguided label was an attempt to protect the creature with hunting season set to commence soon.
Where the 'domesticated' deer is currently located is more of a mystery as the animal was nowhere to be found when conservation officers responded to the initial call. That said, a safe bet is that it is probably still wandering around Festus as residents of one specific neighborhood told a local TV station that they have seen the unnaturally tame animal in their backyards for the last few months and that its complete lack of fear for human left them rather unsettled. In a tragic twist to the weird tale, whoever befriended the deer and decided to domesticate it may have actually spelled its doom as authorities are now on the hunt for the collared creature and, if they find it, could wind up euthanizing it out of fear that it cannot be safely returned to the wild.