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Deer on the attack By Mark Freeman of the Mail Tribune Jun 30, 2020 04:51 PM A A When the blacktail doe came a running and leapt over Steve Bunch’s fence on Medford’s Brookdale Avenue, Pixie never had a chance. The little Lhasa Apso was the smallest of four dogs in the yard when the doe, in a field perhaps 100 yards away, decided these animals were a threat to a fawn hidden somewhere in the brush. After clearing the fence, the doe stomped after every dog in the yard, but Pixie couldn’t escape the sharp hooves. “I threw a couple hammers at the deer and chased it with a shovel,” Bunch says. “But it’s not scared of me. It’s attacking unprovoked. It’s bizarre.” Pixie later died of her injuries, the latest victim this summer in Southern Oregon of city deer caught in a violent triangle with city dwellers and their pets, with Bambi wearing the black hat. Blacktail does will randomly attack people and pets to protect their young fawns, biologists says. More than a dozen calls of aggressive deer have come to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife from Ashland in the past two weeks, with a handful coming from Medford and Jacksonville, ODFW records show. It’s almost always a doe — a female deer — likely worried that a dog will munch her fawn. “It’s like all the attacks are when deer are extra defensive and aggressive against dogs,” says Matthew Vargas, a wildlife biologist at the ODFW office at the Denman Wildlife Area. The recent attacks often involved “city deer,” or those that have been fed or otherwise coddled by someone in a neighborhood and often treated as pets, according to victims. Todd Kemp says the deer along Hersey Street where he lives in Ashland are fed by some and develop no real fear of humans. While deer in the wild will run from you, Kemp says the does on his street will come after you. “Deer that don’t run away from you when you clap your hands and stomp your feet are a threat,” Kemp says. “I love deer, but they belong in the wild.” While the deer are docile most months, they can get protective of their fawns in early summer. The fawns often get stashed in nearby hiding places while the does forage. Does often see dogs as threats to their fawns, Vargas says. Laurel Jessup says she and her 65-pound Australian shepherd Kaya were attacked along Siskiyou Boulevard in Ashland by a doe that is terrorizing her neighborhood. “We have a lot of elderly neighbors afraid to check their mail,” Olson says. “You can’t walk a block. They see you down the street and they come after you, unprovoked, if they see your dog. “The deer in Ashland just don’t have any fear of you,” Olson says. “They’re very entitled. I shouldn’t be afraid to walk down my street.” Olson carries pepper spray, and one aggressive doe found the business end of a spicy shot last week. “I don’t know the legality of it, but that’s what I did,” Olson says. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman. Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune Steve Bunch walks his dog near his home where they were recently attacked by a deer.