Pet deer taken from Quebec family's home
A family is heartbroken after Quebec’s Ministry of Wildlife seized their pet deer who they’ve raised for the past four years.
Brigitte Thomas told CBC News the fawn’s mother had been struck and killed by a car in June 2012. It was alone, orphaned on the side of the highway, so a friend who found the animal, brought it to Thomas.
Thomas and her husband took the young deer in, with the intention of releasing her back into the wild once she was grown. But after bottle feeding and raising her, they realized she had become domesticated and were worried she would not be able to survive on her own.
The couple decided to keep the fawn on their fenced-in 33 hectare property in the mountains. They named her May and she became a part of the family.
“She has a big pillow like our dogs. She watches TV with us,” Thomas told CBC News.
“She’s very smart, she’s clean. She even waits at the door to let us know she has to go the bathroom.”
On Monday, the ministry called Thomas and told her it would be taking May from her home. It is illegal to keep a wild animal as a pet in Quebec, and the ministry was responding to an anonymous complaint.
Agents then came to the family’s home and sedated the deer. They took her from the residence and have not released information about her location to the Thomas family, but they have reassured them that May will not be euthanized. Instead, she will most likely be sent to an animal sanctuary.
“There’s a very, very, very strong bond between us and May,” Thomas said of her beloved pet.
“She must be wondering where we are, because we’re the only family she’s ever known.”
The Thomas family is requesting a special permit to have May returned to their home and to be allowed to keep her on their property.
In the meantime, they’ve started a campaign to bring May back home. They’ve launched an online petition that has over 20,000 signatures, along with a Facebook page.
