Originally published at: Why is this wild animal wearing a collar and painted with the word "pet"? | Boing Boing
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I guess paint is cheaper and more permanent than putting a “don’t shoot me” orange safety vest on the deer. /s
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Maybe the deer just wanted affection. It is a cry out for physical connection.
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Clearly this deer comes from a herd that has achieved literacy and the ability to hold a paint brush between their hooves.
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My first thought was “maybe this is one of those PETA stunts intended to make people rethink why some animals are OK to hunt/eat/wear and others aren’t” but painting/collaring an animal seems out of character
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My thoughts it there is some other farmer he frequents who put the collar and sign on him to try to get him through deer season.
There are deer who semi-domesticate themselves, usually by being abandoned when little and finding a farmer who feeds it. Usually they grow up and leave, but some times they will keep coming around. I remember when I was little a local farmer had a “pet” deer for awhile, until it decided to go live in the woods.
It’s possible that some disease or head trauma or just a super trusting personality is why it keeps coming around people. But you have to have something like that to stand still long enough to get a collar and paint job.
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In Vermont, we had to put hunter orange collars and some orange paint on our (deer-like) jersey cow AND our black angus steer to get them through hunting season. People shot at almost anything that moved.
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This strikes me as the work of a child. Probably an overgrown one.
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It’s likely someone doesn’t want it shot as during hunting season anything is fair game, like Divegirl says.
It’s an old story, here’s what John Steinbeck had to say about some hunters attitudes:
“… a farmer in upper New York state painted the word COW in big black letters on both sides of his white bossy, but the hunters shot it anyway”.
“…this is not intended to be funny. The radios warned against carrying a white kerchief. Too many hunters seeing a flash of white have taken it for the tail of a running deer and cured a head cold with a single shot”.
So yes, it does not look very elegant but maybe that boi will get to live for another year - maybe.
(J.Steinbeck - “Travels with Charley”)
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In Upstate NY, the stereotype was that hunters from the city would come up for the weekend and accidentally shoot dogs.
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I think this was the draft ending for The Yearling.
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It’s actually not that much of a stretch; you can get a doe permit, and younger does are large dog size, and of course have no horns. When you’re a hunter in a tree, or peering through shrubbery, it’s not easy to judge scale with nothing else nearby. I’ve seen plenty of large dog-sized deer carcii strapped to cars/trucks in VT and NY.
There’s also the fact that (in VT at least) it was legal to shoot dogs that were chasing deer. Many annoying dogs went missing and were attributed to that reason, whether true or not.
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As an English major, it all comes down to whether it’s a noun or a verb.
Just as with any other wild animal, I wouldn’t pet a deer that wasn’t in something like a petting zoo.
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Don’t pet the sweaty things!
Yeah, but as a hunter you’re also only allowed to shoot if you’re 100% certain you know what you’re aiming at.
I’ve said it here before, but there is a reason other countries only allow you to hunt with dozens of hours of courses and certifications behind you.
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Obviously the deer is too tame for whatever reason and someone knows this and wanted to let people know. A tame deer is no different than a tame cow or horse. The fact that so many are making such a big deal about this is
Insane. We have real problems in the world like drugs, child/human trafficking/illegal immigrants infiltrating our country, abortions of innocent babies and this deer is what they are worried about? Leave the deer alone! And to the jerk who said it’s illegal to do this is B.S. clearly the deer is roaming free and not in captivity! But murdering innocent deer for sport is ok and legal! Wtf ever! Get a life!
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