Couple greets ‘friendly’ deer in dog collar. Then it attacked, Colorado officials say

A couple in Colorado spotted a “friendly” deer wearing a bright, fluorescent orange dog collar on the other side of the fence in their yard Wednesday evening.

The animal seemed calm and tame, so the wife reached across the fence and the deer touched her hand with its nose, according to a Parks and Wildlife news release.

Then it attacked.

The deer charged through a broken section of fence and knocked the woman back, pinning her against the barbwire. When her husband tried to stop the deer, it turned on him and began goring his lower body with its antlers, officials said.

Hunter thought he killed a deer until it stood up and attacked, Arkansas officials say

His wife ran inside to call 911 and came back out armed with a pellet gun. She shot at the buck to distract it from attacking her husband, giving him long enough to find safety behind a boat parked in the yard, officials said.

A Douglas County sheriff’s deputy arrived at the home and the deer was aggressive, officials said. The deputy killed the buck, KDVR reported.

These weren’t the only people attacked by the deer. Minutes before the couple was attacked, a 10-year-old boy was chased by the buck until a driver pulled in front of the deer to stop the attack, officials said. And just hours before that, a resident reported a Facebook post that showed a man “interacting” with the deer.

Wildlife officials got in touch with the man, who told them the deer attacked him and showed video of himself fending it off.

The deer was likely raised by humans, officials said.

“Every indication we see points to this deer being raised by people, one from its collar and two from its behavior,” wildlife officer Casey Westbrook said in the news release. “We suspect somebody was raising it and released it after they couldn’t handle it anymore.”

This is the third deer attack in about as many weeks.

In October, a hunter believed he’d killed a deer until it stood up and attacked him in Arkansas, McClatchy news group reported. The man died.

A woman in Tennessee checking her mailbox was “knocked to the ground by an enraged white-tail deer and gored repeatedly by its antlers,” McClatchy reported. She was hospitalized. Law enforcement believes that deer was also raised by people.

Colorado officials say it’s illegal to own wildlife.

“Colorado’s wild animals should stay wild,” Westbrook said.

This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Couple greets ‘friendly’ deer in dog collar. Then it attacked, Colorado officials say."