Video shows deer attacking Charlotte dog during mating season
Be careful if you see deer near you.
It’s mating season, when males have high levels of testosterone and can attack you and your pets.
At least one such case has occurred in the Charlotte area this week, with a deer seriously injuring a family dog.
The dog is recovering in a veterinary hospital after a rabid deer repeatedly attacked the devoted pet in their yard, according to a video posted to Facebook by the South Charlotte owner.
Finn, a 3-year-old Goldendoodle, suffered multiple puncture injuries and a collapsed lung, Roger Hunter posted on Facebook with a video of Monday’s terrifying encounter.
Hunter’s wife, Tracy, is shown in the video scaring the male by waving a towel at the animal.
Finn was in serious but stable condition after Tracy Hunter, with the help of a neighbor, transported the dog in her car and drove him to Sharon Lakes Animal Hospital, Roger Hunter posted on Facebook .
Finn was then transferred to the Long Animal Hospital and Emergency Center on South Boulevard, according to Hunter, a retired firefighter from Charlotte.
The family lives near a wooded area roughly between Sharon Road West and South Mecklenburg High School.
Finn chased a doe just before the buck attacked the dog, Hunter said.
“Please pray for a full recovery, but most of all pray for Tracy,†Hunter said in a follow-up article. “It was very devastating and disturbing for her. But it actually saved the lives of Finns. Without a doubt!”
Roger Hunter could not be reached by The Charlotte Observer.
On Friday at NextDoor, he said doctors are planning to remove a chest tube from Finn on Saturday, “and he should be able to go home on Sunday… He’s doing great. Thanks for all of your messages and prayers. You are all so so. kind.
Also on Tuesday, a woman from Tega Cay, SC, told NextDoor that a doe attacked her dog in the backyard of her home.
“She put her hoof in her chest – probably had a young deer nearby,†the woman said. “A bill for $ 740 at the vet, a drainage tube, stitches, a cone of shame for 3 weeks.
“Fortunately it was not a grandchild,” she said.
The deer mating season
The encounters took place during the deer mating season from October through November, when the males are particularly aggressive, according to the hunting blog HuntingHeart.com.
“During rutting season, deer can be dangerous neighbors,” read a 2011 article by a senior wildlife biologist at the California Department of Fish and Game.
Males “are not” friendly “and should have a large place, but even the youngest and smallest deer are very strong and unpredictable and should never be approached in any way,” the biologist warned.
Still, such encounters are “super, super rare,” according to Sampson Parker Jr., the only enforcement officer of the State Wildlife Commission based in Mecklenburg County.
“But that money apparently wasn’t going to let anything get in its way,” Parker told The Observer on Friday.
“Normally they run away,†Parker said of the deer, and people have nothing to fear.
He wonders if the dog may not have continued to “encourage” him by chasing the animal, but his agency has not been called to the scene to investigate, he said.
The estimated peak rutting date for Mecklenburg County was November 21, according to the Wildlife Commission. Parker said the season can stretch until December.
The media also reported attacks in the spring, during childbirth.
Either way, a deer will attack a dog at any time of the year if the animal feels threatened, “by gorging or kicking it brutally,” according to HuntingHeart.com.
Attacks have taken place across the country over the years:
â–ª In Atlanta in 2018, a doe stomped on a woman’s basset hound after saying the animal looked at her two dogs and charged them, The Associated Press reported. The dog suffered only minor injuries.
â–ª In Washington state in 2019, a “earthy” deer killed one dog, seriously injured another and preyed on humans in the same neighborhood, the South Whidbey Record reported at the time.
â–ª And in 2016, a distraught Arkansas woman said a doe who may have felt threatened killed her 16-year-old dachshund in the woman’s fenced yard, according to the outdoors site RealTree.com .
Hunter, the Charlotte resident, urged other pet owners to remain vigilant.
“Watch your animals,†he said on Facebook. “Nature reigns. The Buck was doing what was natural.
This story was originally published November 26, 2021 14:13.