In memory of Ty

Ty, April 2007

We are very grateful to T.B. who decided to sponsor Ty's memory. For every person who has wished the Reserve and its mission ill, there are at least 10 others who understand why the Reserve exists and what it means. Thanks so much, T.B., for thinking of such a sweet way to remember him.

Dandy, born 2000 - died November 23, 2008

Dandy, 2006

Today at about 4pm, Don Murphy and his dog, Jenna, found the remains of Dandy on Empey Road, off McConnell Road. It appears he was shot in the head and his antlers were cut off and left at the site, along with his head and skin. His ear tag was missing. It appears he was shot today as we had received reports of sightings from people on Thorpe Road yesterday.

Not only did these poachers shoot Dandy out of season, they did so on a Sunday and showed they were aware of their lawlessness by not treating his remains with any appropriate respect. A simple phone call to us admitting that Dandy had been shot in error, if that had been the case, would have been the right thing to do.

What a horrible discovery for Don! What a strange coincidence that he should be the one to find Dandy so soon after his death and dismemberment!

Our only consolation is that we know where all our fallow deer bucks are and the search has ended -- albeit sadly -- but ended nonetheless after more than two weeks of worry and concern.

Dandy was a very strong and beautiful buck who was one of the oldest in the herd and, at times, he served as Max's lieutenant in protecting and calming the herd. He often spent time on his own, independent of the others but also enjoyed a friendly rivalry with Mike for that second-in-command status and was tolerant of younger bucks and deerkeepers.

EGee eases back!

EGee, March 2008

EGee is back thanks to Don and Wendy who received a call late afternoon yesterday, Saturday, November 15, 2008 that he had been spotted on McConnell Road, north of Wilton. They drove the horse trailer there, spotted him, opened up the trailer and got out the corn. Wendy encouraged him towards the trailer and backed in (there is a front exit, fortunately) and wouldn't you know EGee walked in and stood still as the doors closed him in.

EGee (for Easy Going) proved worthy of his name and the Bogert family of Toronto who are his sponsors are very glad that he has come back to the fold. We are also happy to inform the residents of Fairmount Home that one of their favourites, EGee, will still be here when they visit on Sunday afternoons in the summer.

Moki's love story

Moki is one of our youngest bucks. He escaped the enclosure with the herd sometime on November 5-6. Several days later, Allan, the head deer-keeper saw him near a deer hunter's stand off Florida Road, courting a female white tail deer decoy that had obviously been sprayed with something to attract white tail bucks. We didn't think that fallow deer would be enticed by the scent of a different species of deer, but Moki proved to us that the books don't always know what's what. Allan alerted the team about Moki's whereabouts and Don Murphy contacted the owner of the land he was on for permission to search for him, and this is Mike Ivanik, a local bow hunter.

Mike undertook to watch Moki's comings and goings. Volunteers including Don, Wendy, Allan, Chris Grooms and others helped to watch Moki and build a corral around the deer decoy, bring in a horse trailer and create an elaborate "trap". For at least 4 days, Mike waited patiently from his deer stand and singlehandedly captured Moki on Thursday, November 13, 2008. Moki walked into the horse trailer without any need for tranquilizers and now is safely back at the Reserve. Thank you to all the volunteers especially Mike, the bow hunter, who has been promised Moki's antlers which will be shed in April 2009 and our deepest appreciation forever.

The word "moki" is Hopi for deer.

Our count is 10 in, 2 out and of course 1 lost.

On a personal note, your blogger/photographer, Jane, has been in Kingston General Hospital since surgery on November 11 and unable to keep you all posted on developments.

Thank you to everyone who has called and emailed to find out how I am doing. I am at home recouperating and expect a full recovery in 6 to 8 weeks.

Ty, born 2002? - died Nov. 10, 2008

Ty died today of capture myopathy after Don, Allan, Murph, Ken Gilpin and his assistant, Leeane from Animal Control made the call to tranquilize him. All went well, and he was placed in the horse trailer lying on a bed of hay and driven back to the Reserve. He was alive when the gates of the Reserve opened, but died moments after arriving home. Spirits were very high, and then very low.

We are, of course, all very shaken and sad to lose such a beautiful, healthy animal in his prime. Ty had been seen in the Thorpe Road/Peters Road area since the Reserve fence was cut on Wednesday night/Thursday morning nervous, fearful and skittish. He was one of the deer seen on Simmons Road moving away from the Reserve being chased by two young women in a car with a video camera. They didn't know how far they were taking the deer away from the Reserve.

He was one of the most shy deer and that's how he got his name...Shy Ty which was shortened to Ty. Maybe for that reason, no one officially sponsored him. He didn't come to the fence to be fed. He was a common fallow deer with uncommon grace.

We will miss him and his quiet presence. He always took care not to come too close to people, not to let his guard down. We must console ourselves that we did our best for him, that to leave him to starve or to be killed by a car was not an option. We know that he did not suffer a long or painful death and we know that he enjoyed three years of life that would not otherwise have been his.

Gulliver is back home!

Early this morning Gulliver decided he was ready to follow Don in through the gate and join his eight other buck buddies. This is great news for two boys in France who along with their grandmother are his sponsors.

Please do not go to the Reserve if you wish to help us. Volunteers are asked to go to 604 Simmons Road to meet and find out what help is required.

We are doing everything we can to encourage the deer to come back to the Reserve so we can lead them into the enclosure without having to use tranquilizer guns or large numbers of people.

These deer are confused. Max, their leader, did not leave the enclosure. It will take all the patience we can muster to get them home again.

Our present count...9 bucks in, 4 buck out.

George returns home! This one's for Tasha & Kelly

We have some good news. George who was one of the bucks released early on Thursday morning is now back at the Reserve. He was found by hunters in the Jamieson/Freeman Road area north of Sydenham. That's about 8 or10 miles north of the Reserve so he was moving.

Allan Park, our Head Deer keeper and Don Murphy, Founder and President of the Reserve were able to coax George near the trailer (lent to us by our neighbours, the Burleys), helped by local hunters who had reported him in the area. Thank you to all the good folks helping us!

George is our most social deer. He is sponsored by Marg and her granddaughter Kelly and he is the favourite buck of one of our youngest volunteers, Tashia, who was heartbroken when she heard he was missing. George is also the deer featured on our sign at the entrance to the Reserve.

That means that there are 8 deer inside the fence! We have spotted all the remaining deer at loose and telephone calls keep coming in. Please keep phoning.

From reports and verified sitings, we believe that EGee was last seen on McConnell Road. Moki on Florida Road. Ty on Thorpe Road. Gulliver and Dandy nearby the Reserve. If you see one of our deer, please call us. Try not to chase the deer, but if he starts to move in the "wrong" direction away from the Reserve, perhaps you can try to encourage them to go in the "right" direction. Easier said than done. When you call we will send someone to verify it is our deer and then hopefully the wheels will but put into motion a team prepared to tranquilize the deer. We now have the means to do this and hope to be able to do this starting Saturday, November 8.

The Worst has happened

If you have ever been to the Reserve, you know the most striking feature of it, besides the deer, is the 8 foot fencing that surrounds the 10 acres that protect the bucks from predators and keep them from the "wild" that holds many dangers for them...electric fences, highways, hunters, certain starvation in winter. As you know the fallow deer is not native to Canada and cannot survive without hay in the winter. These 13 bucks were rescued from a deer farm in 2005 and have been cared for by volunteers since.

In our worst nightmare, someone would come with bolt cutters or wire clippers and cut the fence for what reason we would not know. But since May 2007, we have had no incident and I guess we all started to believe that no one would be so callous or ignorant to do such a thing. Our neighbours were supportive.

Well the worst case scenario played out on November 6 when sometime between 5pm and 6am, the fence was cut and peeled back to allow 15 feet of open gate. At least 10 deer escaped and were spotted by a neighbour early in the morning. At present we have 7 deer in the reserve and there are 6 on the run. We have spotted three of them and are working on as many ways as we can think of to bring them to their home.

If you know anything about the people who did this, or if you are one of the persons who did this, we would like to know why? What purpose have you served? We thank you for not shooting the deer, but why put their lives in peril?

If you see any of the deer, please call (613) 386-1355 to report location, time and direction in which the buck was travelling.

With a great deal of sadness and worry,

The Deer Keepers