Posted on 06/04/2012 7:07:59 PM PDT by SJackson
WILMER, Alabama -- Kenneth Webster has what you would call a "unique" family pet. Her name is Bambi, and yes, she's a deer.
"I found her on the side of Highway 43 lying beside her mother," said Webster. The mother was killed by a car. "I thought she was dead too until I walked up to her and she picked her head up."
That was four years ago. Bambi's been part of the family ever since, living comfortably in their fenced-in yard in Wilmer.
"She gets 50 dollars a week worth of food, if not more," Webster said, describing the doe's diet of fresh fruit, grains, and water.
There's only one problem. Keeping wild animals as pets is illegal in Alabama.
"Somebody called and reported seeing her," said Webster.
Keith Gauldin, a Wildlife Biologist at the Alabama Department of Natural Resources enforced the law. He tranquilized Bambi, and they dropped her off at a sort of "deer sanctuary" fifty miles away on Mason Ferry Road.
"It's not really us being the bad guys," said Gauldin. "It was their mistake when they first captured the deer as a youngster, so he shouldn't have done that in the first place, and we wouldn't have had a problem."
Little did they know, Bambi was homeward bound. Kenneth Webster was at work at the time, when his neighbors called with the unbelievable news: Bambi was back at his front gate.
Neighbor Joey Hall spotted Bambi on their street.
"We got a little fence in our backyard, so we put it there," said Hall. "My dad went and called him, told him we had his deer."
Nearly two weeks later, the domesticated doe is back home in the Webster's yard. But her chances of staying there are slim.
"We have a regulation in place that prohibits that, that keeps the general public from keeping any species of wildlife in captivity, so, unfortunately the law is the law," said Gauldin.
"You can see the scratches on her from the travel," said Bambi's owner. "I don't know what all she went through, and only God knows what all she went through to make it back, but she made it back, so why not leave her alone?" said Webster.
Kenneth Webster says it's a miracle Bambi made it back alive. He worries she won't have the instincts to survive on her own.
Gauldin says they plan to enforce the law and confiscate Bambi once again. This time, they may take it someplace different.
News 5 will continue to follow this story and let you know if the State decides to make an exception, or if they take Bambi a second time.
It’s never been determined if it is real or not. It is an old tape ...decades.
I know. It’s hard to have that happen.
I can see why it is not allowed.
My pet peeve is pet stores.
I hate to think of the ‘pets’ that have become to hard to keep or whatever and let loose.
There is LAW and there is common sense, and sometimes common sense needs to trump law. The finks need to come clean and explain why common sense is missing from their genes. Bambi needs her family and I don’t need to remind Gualdin the moron, that the family did not capture bambi she was R E S C U E D.
Do you know what type of fruit it was?
/johnny
Given the preponderance of car-deer collisions a Bambulance is not a preposterous idea.
I laugh my butt off at the stupidity of 911 calls..so the Bambulance tape could be real.
Dumb dumb officer thinking he overdosed on Pot Brownies that he confiscated from someone he arrested
“I think we’re dying,” he said. “We made brownies and I think we’re dead, I really do.”
He thinks he is dying and then asks the Score of the Redwings game to see if he is hallucinating
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHTzpXyXO-4
Clearly , except in the most extreme circumstances, it’s best to steer clear of the cops.
Why the heck did anyone bother calling the press on this regarding Bambi finding her way home?
Just let the deer live in the backyard and keep your mouth shut...
Just saying.
Why the heck did anyone bother calling the press on this regarding Bambi finding her way home?
Just let the deer live in the backyard and keep your mouth shut...
Just saying.
stear?
Some of mine too (I've had to straighten them out). It's not pleasant.
while we have women calling 911 over Chicken Mcnuggets..the UK has people calling 999 (their emergency number) because the wife left him two salmon sandwiches .
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-7058789206610100303
Said the Spokesperson for the department of the “Armed & Rangerous” “We have regulations ...”.
In the Third Reich, the phrase was “Alles In Ordnung!”
Same Jack Boot mentality, just a different time and Fuhrer.
“Gauldin” and his chain of command need to be tranquilized and released in Zimbabwe.”
Superb post, doubtlessly the best comment of teh day, if not the week.
Thanks, again.
PS There are lots of Possum PolicePerson in FloriDUH who will surely be similarly described by many. I predict your line and its concept will go viral.
Keith Gauldin, wildlife biologist, at the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, District V Office at 30571 Five Rivers Boulevard, Spanish Fort, AL 36527; 251-626-5474.
Picture not found
Interesting, I’ll have to check and see if there are 12 ga tranquilizer rounds (Lord knows that the 12 ga is the Swiss Army Knife of “firearms”)
Don’t know what kind of sauce it is.
I just go with peppercorn sauce.
They are probably waiting for a crowd of neighborhood children to gather around before sending in the cops. It’s a unique event that paired the deer with that man. That is the problem with giving bureaucrat power. Government control has not heart and no brain.
This is what we will face with our human management overseers through obromneycare, carbon control and agenda 21.
A Teleshot round is a specially designed shell that captures the gas released by firing. Thus, this greatly muffles the sound of the blast (in effect, it is like a suppressor for a shotgun). These rounds can be found in 12 gauge only with solid slugs or buckshot.
I'll have to follow up on this too.
The deer will likely be killed trying to make it back from an even more distant “sanctuary.” It’s definitely domesticated. A deer is more docile than many other wild animals and under the circumstance this one should be allowed to remain with its benefactors.But unnecessary officiousness dictates that it won’t be.
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