Family Returns from Vacation to Find Deer Squatter
OutdoorHub Reporters 01.13.14
When Chad and Leigh Smith went on vacation with their three children and dog, the last thing they expected was to find a deer house-sitting. The family returned to their home in Covington, Tennessee last week and discovered the doe in their living room. It was hard to tell who was more surprised, but Chad Smith told WMTC-TV that what happened afterward was pure chaos.
“When she saw me, that’s when she went nuts, running into the wall, hitting the TV, hitting the windows,” he said. “It looked like a small murder scene with blood all over the windows, the floor, the furniture, the TV.”
It is rare but not unheard of for deer to enter homes, especially if drawn in by the prospect of a tasty garden. Once inside, deer can be a danger to themselves and others. As with most wildlife-related break-ins, homeowners are advised to call wildlife officials instead of attempting to remove the animal themselves. In the Smiths’ case, a game warden was able to evict their uninvited house guest. Unfortunately, the animal was later found to have died because of a heart attack from stress.
That was not the only case of a deer break-in last week—a Minnesota couple also found a whitetail in their house on Tuesday. In that case, the animal was tackled by one of the homeowners and successfully wrestled out of the house without any injuries.
