What’s the most dangerous animal in Yosemite? The one that’s contributed to the most injuries and deaths? No, it’s not bears or rattlesnakes, it’s deer. Take a look at this video and you’ll see just how defensive deer can be.
Keep in mind that this is a female defending a fawn but there have been several recorded cases of bucks goring people with their antlers.
Comments
5 responses to “The Most Vicious Wild Animal in Yosemite (video)”
This is exactly my experience! When I first moved here, I used to throw the dogs’ ball near groups of deer in an effort to get the dogs to chase them off the property.
It usually ended up being the dogs who were chased.
[…] sent me an email about the Vicious Deer video I posted last night. Here’s her […]
I once saw a wild bobcat pounce on a fawn. It screamed, the mom came bounding out of nearby brush, took a second to check me out, then realized what was going on and chased that bobcat right up a tree.
I liked how the housecat at least had sense enough to flee when the deer decided enough was enough.
I think the term “vicious… See More” is seriously misused in this instance. Vicious implies that animals will simply attack without provocation just because they are somehow predisposed to do so, ostensibly, because they are ill tempered or just mean. This is totally wrong. Attempting to teach people this wrong attitude does not increase understanding of the animals, but instead encourages negative attitudes about nature. This will never solve anything, and will only lead to more preventable conflict. People need to learn to appreciate and cherish nature, not be afraid of it. This appreciation comes through understanding, not myths and contrived stories. Mothers of any species have a natural, intensely determined, protective instinct toward their young, and that dog was a very definite threat. Instead of placing an unfair stereotype on the deer, perhaps the pet owner could have been more responsible. Most cities have leash laws, and in areas where there are possible wildlife encounters, this is should be stressed even more. Why not make this video a tutorial on how not to care for your dog.
Umm Randy…didn’t read the caption below the article did you? Deer, not just the mother deer but all deer in general, have caused more deaths in Yosemite than any other animal. And I don’t mean by running out in the road in front of cars. As much as people are told, as much as they are given pamphlets at the entrance, as many signs as there are, as many citations as rangers give out, people still insist on thinking the animals are tame and are therefore in Yosemite for their pleasure. Vicious is used perfectly in my opinion as deer DO attack without provocation. You see, they’re WILD! WIld animals WILL defend their a) young b) herd c) territory d) anything they want to. Ever been charged by a deer in a forest just because it wanted to? I have. Spend more time in the mountains, you learn a lot.
I posted the video to show people they’re NOT Bambi. This ISN’T the movies. People get hurt. People approach deer all the time just as that dog did without a second though. You think they give it a thought the deer might beat the crap out of them? I didn’t post the article to teach people about restraining their damn pet. It’s about not trying to pet the freakin’ deer (and bears, and squirrels, and marmots, and coyotes and everything else they do). It’s to show there are consequences for being stupid.