Missouri Dept. of Conservation (MDC) responded to an unusual report — a deer with a collar around its neck and the word “pet” painted on its body.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office shared a photo of the creature on Facebook. Officers were said to have gone to De Soto, a rural town in Missouri, to investigate a picture of a deer that had gone viral online.
In the photo, a deer is looking at the camera while grazing grass. A multicolored collar can be seen around the animal’s neck, and the word “pet” is written in large letters on the deer’s body.
“Someone most likely took that deer from the wild as a fawn and tried to keep it as a pet and put a collar on it,” MDC Capt. Scott Corley told McClatchy News, according to Bellville News-Democrat.
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He told the media house that the MDC investigated the incident on September 27 after receiving a call from a concerned landowner. The deer — which officials believe is about 2 years old — was gone when authorities arrived.
“We are concerned about the health of the deer,” Corley said of why the MDC does not support the wild deer domestication effort. “Nowadays, as we have problems with chronic wasting and other diseases, [interaction] it is not safe for humans and not in the interest of animal welfare.”
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reiterated this warning in its Facebook post about the animal: “Wild animals should not be kept as pets, and deer in particular should not be moved from their habitat as (MDC) works on chronic wasting disease.”
Chronic wasting disease is a prion disease — a rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder — that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office added that “wildlife orphans” should be reported to the local MDC office or conservation agent.
Chronic wasting disease is not the only possible risk from close contact with deer. Corley said the deer photo also worried officials because docile deer can become aggressive during mating season.
“When they took him out of the wild in his first year … he didn’t have all those hormones going through him,” he said.
“Now he can be aggressive, and that can cause problems,” Corley added, noting that if MDC agents capture a deer, they will remove the collar and try to return the animal to the wild.
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In general, Corley stressed that wild deer should be left alone.
“They have a much better chance if you leave them where they are and don’t touch them,” he said.
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Source: HIS Education