On Saturday, we discovered yet another dead deer on our property. This is the third such discovery in the last three years. Now while I am sorry for the loss of this majestic creature, there are some other concerns for the homeowners for a tragedy of this kind.
First and foremost of my concerns, is how do we dispose of the carcass? Gratefully, the town of Merrillville willingly removes the remains of dead animals on or near the road. However, since we discovered the dearly departed ungulate on a Saturday, we were stuck with Bambi's relative for the weekend.
Sunday, brings a surprise with our expired wildlife friend. We discovered that the carcass had been moved about five or six feet from the road. You may be thinking that the specimen was only injured and got up and moved. Did the three feeding vultures carry Bambi a few feet? That might be so. But, I am not sure that vultures are in the moving business. Plus, those birds usually seem to be content feeding on site.
Monday morning, brings us yet another surprise Bambi has been moved to the center of our backyard (maybe thirty feet from the road.) Now for sure, the deer did not amble over to the new spot. As the carcass was quite bloody with gaping holes where the vultures had fed.
Since the animal remains were definitely away from the road, we contacted a private entity to remove the dead deer. After a quick internet search, my husband, Miles, located a service, Michiana Wildlife Removal. I spoke to representative, Joe, on the phone. Joe graciously agreed to collect our dead animal remains today for what I felt was a reasonable price. So now, all is good, we are addressing our problem, and the dead deer will be gone today.
Nonetheless, after talking to Joe, I checked the status of the deceased. The dead deer was nowhere to be found. Being quite curious, Miles and I went outside to survey the situation and our property. We saw a huge bloody spot on the road where some vehicle injured the deer. Either the poor animal drug himself to the side of the road or perhaps was flipped to the edge of the roadway. We saw a bloody spot on the grass with some tufts of hair where the vultures had enjoyed some venison for breakfast. Finally, we saw several tufts of hair far from the vulture site on the other side of our property.
Are you wondering what happened? Did a coyote steal the meal from the vultures and carry the poor dead animal off into the woods? Did the town Public Works Department take responsibility for disposal since the deer was killed on the road?
We may never know, but we are looking into having a deer crossing sign being posted on the road to help alleviate the problem. Also, the good news is Michiana Wildlife Removal is open on the weekends.
