DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS

This Beautiful year and a half old male deer was the center of attention here in town yesterday.  We first saw him next to our porch about noon.  Just wandering along, happy as can be, not a care in the world, with an animal control guy following him.  The animal control guy told us he had been getting calls all morning about the deer.  The deer was very tame, would come right up to you and let you pet him.
We saw him again about 2:30 pm or so, laying right outside the kitchen window.  We had a group of guys from the wildlife dept and the animal guy out front , waiting on a tranquilizer gun.  The boys loved watching the deer.  The dog was going crazy lol.
After about 1/2 an hour the deer got up and wandered across the alley.
I saw this morning that they will have to put the deer down, because it is a wild animal. Someone apparently at some point had tamed this deer and because of that, it will die.  No one wants to kill the deer.  Its really, really sad.  I grew up in the country.  Taking in strays and wild animals was pretty common place with kids then.  I used to babysit a girl who's dad had rescued a raccoon after it's mother was hit by a car.  It slept in her room and when it got to big, they let it outside and it lived in their yard.  But they did that with alot of critters.  Alot of people did.  I had a friend at school that had a pet skunk (scent gland removed lol).  But, these animals were taken in with the idea with they would remain pets.  It's kind of hard to keep a deer as a pet unless you have alot of fenced in land. 
I do understand the urge.  I really truly do.  I am notorious for taking in strays.  I've never had a pet that wasn't a rescue. With the exception of Mama cat, she kind of just adopted us and kept dropping off kittens for us to take care of.  That's another story. Anyway, that's how I have always gotten my pets.  That's why at one point we had 8 cats.  Now its just 3 cats and dog, who was also a rescue.  But when you start feeding an animal, it becomes your responsibility.  You are taking away the animal's  ability to care for itself.  There is a very good reason that you see signs that say "DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS".  If you do, they start to rely on people for food.  Most 'people food' isn't even healthy for people, why would you feed it to an animal? 
It's just sad that this young buck will be put down by the humans he learned to trust.
There are tons of resources out there for wildlife.  If you see an injured wild animal, call your local department of Wildlife.  It is their job.  It's always tempting , its hard not to help.  But the best way to help is to call someone who is trained to help these animals.
 It's just really sad.  That deer, who we were calling Rudolf, made alot of people very happy yesterday, just by walking around.