A Deer on the Highway

 

It is late at night. A very large buck deer has, somehow, been forced down the byways and valleys of Toronto, and out on to the Don Valley Parkway, not far from Front Street. No doubt panicked by the streams of cars, dazed by the headlights, utterly confused, he moves out into the stream of traffic – and is hit. But not killed. One driver, seeing the deer struggling on the road, and collapsing, moves him up against the fence and ties him there. The Toronto Humane Society is not far away.

The THS called the MNR. A weekend. The THS took their van, and lifted the now almost unconscious deer into the back. Its antlers were broken off – the hit was likely in the head. The young people realized that the deer needed more help than they could give it. They phoned the Aspen Valley Sanctuary.

 

They tranquillized the deer, covered it with warm blankets, and started the long drive through the night, to Gravenhurst, where, after midnight, our van met them. Early next morning, the deer awake, its head up, lay deep in the warm straw in one of our stables. The Parry Sound Animal Hospital was contacted , their wise advice followed- and now, several weeks later, the deer is up on his feet and quite ready to be released.

 

Meanwhile, the story of the deer, and his picture, had been covered by The Toronto Star and several TV stations. They had interviewed the THS, and us – and thousands of people cared about the deer. Warm in his stall, the deer had no idea he become part of a good many Christmas programmes which were being carried around the world. We didn’t either.

 

Exactly how fast his story spread around the world we do not really know. We had a few Emails from the USA and from Europe, and quite a few from Canada. However, the phone call came from Korea.

To them, the idea of a Sanctuary – a place where wildlife would be accepted and cared for – was novel and wonderful. Naturally, we rather agree with them but, more than that, we feel deeply privileged to have a part in contributing to the welfare, not merely of an entire species, but of an individual animal. Especially one individual who has been harmed because of our interference with its environment. (Toronto is an interference, as are Parry Sound and Huntsville and Bracebridge, and all the houses and roads and highways we have built.) We can no longer, with any integrity whatsoever, use that worn out phrase, “Let nature take its course.”

 

But some people care. Care for the individual.

 

We have had several phone calls from Korea. They will be here sometime in January – early January, they say. Unless we finally get some snow, they will not find exactly the Canada they have no doubt read about. The bears are asleep and we won’t be able to wake them. The raccoons will be cooperative – as will the fawns and the wolves and the coyotes. When the TV from Japan was here in the sunmmer, Tasiq the beaver refused to come out of his lodge, and so missed being famous. He will likely do the same thing again. . . . but there is one big deer who is very healthy because, in the heart of the biggest city in Canada, and here in the woods of Muskoka, people do care.

 

Story continues with a A Buck has Gone Free.