Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Pets without Feathers => Topic started by: Agatha on July 30, 2012, 13:00
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A warning for any dog owners who live near deer. I was walking Bonnie last week when a roe deer came charging toward us, headbutted the dog to the ground and then stamping on her. Every time Bonnie tried to run, the deer headed her off & repeated the attack. When she finally managed to get away & run for home, the deer turned on me. They are normally fine with us walking through the fields & the deer had a baby a couple of months ago & wasn't that aggressive then, so all we can think is that another dog must have attacked her & made her really stressed so that she went for the next dog she saw. I now take a stout walking stick with me every time I go out in the fields - beating off a mad deer with your bare hands is not funny. Fortunately Bonnie wasn't seriously injured, just battered and bruised and a bit stiff for a few days, but she could so easily have ended up dead or with broken limbs/internal injuries.
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That sounds scary and your explanation seems likely. Its a shame not all dog owners are responsible when walking them or in ensuring they know where they are and what they are doing.
Glad you and Bonnie are OK. :)
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after having done some work experience at a park in Nottingham I asked about deer attacking dogs and it can happen very frequently when they are guarding their young and also in the rutting season. It is for this reason that dogs should always be kept on a normal lead (not an extended type of lead - unless it is locked off in the short position) and also to keep quite a distance away from them. Any dog found worrying the deer was liable to be shot in order to protect the parks livestock.
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Maybe it had just seen the youtube clip of Fenton chasing all those deer and it was just a case of mistaken identity?
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That is awful Agatha and must have been really traumatic. Glad Bonnie is not too badly hurt. I wonder if a dog had attacked and killed her fawn. :(
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Fenton !!!!!!!!!!
:D
bmpONxJ7JSw
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In all the sheep in Wales and Scotland we came across one with Ollie when he was alive that turned on him - but it did have a lamb. It was quite funny at the time, as they actually did not come into physcial contact but I have never seen a sheep stamping and being aggressive before. Ollie was ever so startled not to see it run away. Its when you are not expecting something that can be quite shocking as well. Thanks for the warning!
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Thank goodness you and poor Bonnie survived that attack relatively unscathed Agatha.
We also consider deer such timid, flighty animals as indeed they usually are. Bessie sends a big kiss to you both. :D
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The 'killer deer' vanished for a few days, but has reappeared & seems a lot calmer...though I still take my stick everywhere! The youngster is fine & obviously pretty independent now as I've seen it around without 'mum'. I'm glad the adult seems to be getting back to normal as one of the local farmers was talking about shooting it if it happened again. (Tney are regarded more as pests than livestock as they don't belong to the farm & do a lot of damage to crops) Joyfull, you're quite right that dogs should be kept on leads near livestock, but this wouldn't have saved Bonnie as she was right next to me when it happened. If you or your dog are attacked by livestock, it's usually recommended that you then let the dog off-lead as it is more likely to escape on it's own & draw the attacking animals away from you so that you can escape too. But in this case, it didn't work!