A Kimberley couple is mourning the loss of their dog after a fatal encounter with a deer. Udi, a Maltese Poodle, belonging to Glenn and Maureen Price, had to be put down last Friday, January 19 after being stomped by a deer.
The Prices live on Norton Avenue, and Udi, 15 years old, was trained to go outside and follow paths through the snow to do her business.
Just after noon on Friday, they let Udi out.
“We have little paths for the dog in our backyard,” Glenn said. “She walks through them to get to her spot at the end of the yard. She’s so little, they’re like tunnels to her. We let her out and she walked down the path, but at the end of the tunnel was this doe. She just stomped Udi.
“We heard her crying. She was trying to climb up a steep bank to get away. My wife ran out and she almost ran into the deer. It wasn’t moving.”
“We have a big window and I looked out,” Maureen said. “I could see her trying to get away. I ran out and the doe looked at me in a threatening way.”
Glenn says the dog was bleeding from the mouth and obviously in distress. They rushed to the vet. She suffered three broken ribs and internal injuries and had to be put down that afternoon.
“She died in great pain,” Maureen said. “The vet worked on her for two or three hours.”
“She survived the daily invasion of deer to our residence for entire life up to Friday,” Glenn said. “It’s so sad. She would never leave the backyard, She was well trained.”
Maureen says that it is not uncommon to see up to 15 deer around their home.
“We spend a lot of time in the Nature Park. You don’t see deer there. You see them in town.”
The Prices say they want others to be aware of the danger to their own pets.
“We have been complacent,” he said. “I was more worried about my shrubs and plants. When it hits this close to home, it shakes you up.”
Price says he would like the city to make a decision on what to do with the numbers of deer in Kimberley, be it cull or translocating deer. Just do something, he says.
