Students at Southern Illinois University have more to worry about this spring than final exams and military recruiters on campus. They are on the lookout for killer deer. The fawning season is upon them, and if last year is any indication, they should be extra cautious. Seven people were threatened or injured by female deer last year.
"Before last year, no one really had heard of this sort of thing," says Clay Nielsen, a wildlife ecologist at the university. Nielsen believes different deer were responsible for the three attacks that sent Emery and at least three others to the hospital, mostly with minor injuries.
"It wasn't like it was one crazy animal," Nielsen says. The victims were unable to pick the offending doe out of a lineup, and no arrests were made.
A combination of protective motherly instinct, and squeezed habitat are probably most responsible for the attacks. Campus officials are using signs, radio spots, e-mails and fliers about the deer. Some might consider this species profiling, but it is just standard operating procedure for the folks at SIU. Their mascot is the Saluki. Salukis are dogs used by the Bedouins for hunting hare and gazelle. Maybe the deer are threatened by the encroachment of all of these "sighthounds" and they fear for the safety of their children. Perhaps they would be less concerned if they were surrounded by the "Cuddly Bunnies" of Southern Illinois University. The deer are probably trying to shake that whole "Bambi" rep. "When they're mad, they're vicious. They're not the pretty creatures they were to me before," said one of the women who survived a vicious attack from one angry doe. After years of being the punchline to "Bambi Meets Godzilla," the deer have decided to fight back. Astronauts may someday find themselves flung forward in time and crash land on a planet run by super-intelligent deer - this may be the dawning of The Planet of the Deer.
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