While sitting searching the web for wildlife articles to post on bushdrums I heard a crash. I put down my laptop and ran to the front window. There was a pickup truck with heavily damaged radiator and headlight, and the driver asked me to call the police - he had just hit two deer! Luckily neither man in the truck was injured.
Normally our police are very fast getting here in around three minutes, but unfortunately today they had accidents elsewhere in town and were delayed.
I could see a deer across the street attempting to get up and then falling over on his chin. It was a pathetic sight. Had I had a gun I would have put it out of its misery myself. The deer kept attempting to get up and kept falling over but did manage to "slither" about 30 yards away from the road and into a woodsy area. Both front legs were fractured and totally useless. Eventually an off-duty cop showed up, entered the woods and euthanized the poor animal.
While talking with the driver, he said he had hit two deer. The buck I saw took the hit on the front of the truck. Another deer ran into the driver's door taking out his rear view mirror and denting the door. The driver claims it then ran off into the woods behind my house. Hopefully this animal might survive.
I don't know whether the fact that we have very few predators (except for coyotes) contibutes to the increased numbers of deer and moose we are now seeing in the cities or not but increasing they are.
I just feel truly sorry that a beautiful animal had to end its life because of humans. But as we all know, life isn't always fair.
