Oh Deer

As a kid, a deer sighting was always an unexpected treat. Even though I grew up in a rural town, the animals were notoriously skittish around people. But now when I go home, I spy deer all the time. Whether I’m nearly hitting them with my car or watching them graze in a field, they don’t seem particularly bothered by humans anymore.

Maybe it’s because my neighbors are disobeying wildlife officials and feeding them.

“We really shouldn’t be feeding them; but the more they tell us not to, the more we do it,” said Muriel Potter, longtime town clerk. “You don’t fool around with Mother Nature . . . but we do.”

Kevin Fredette has been feeding deer in his backyard on the edge of Nashua for three years. . . The reasons are twofold, he said: To prevent the deer from eating his shrubs “and because I can’t stand to see an animal starve to death.”

These people continue to feed the animals, despite numerous signs and pleas from animal experts who say deer are more threatened by the handouts than the deep snow. Not only are they more at risk at getting hit by a car by trekking out to get food, but the grain people put out may not be right for their digestive system.

The animals are also at risk of eating their own excrement. Ew.

Despite knowing all this, people still continue to use wild deer as the creatures in their home zoos.

But [Fredette] doesn’t see the harm. “It’s intriguing to help out Mother Nature, when Mother Nature needs a hand,” he said.

She doesn’t need a hand, you idiot. If you want to help animals out so much, go volunteer at a shelter and leave the deer alone. You don’t want to end up like the poor bastard in Brookline who needed medical attention after wild turkeys pecked at his legs.