Bambi does Dallas

Growing up, my brothers were always rescuing stray animals. Dogs and cats were the norm, but they would also rescue birds, squirrels, ducks, etc. My parents probably had the animal rescue organizations phone number on speed dial. And our backyard --- a graveyard of random animals. Family pets, as well as the random rescue animal all ended up receiving a proper backyard burial. Keep in mind, we lived in the middle of the city, not the country.

So, given my childhood, my evening last night seemed pretty normal.

Miss A and the Mr. were on an evening walk and all of a sudden a baby deer appears from inbetween 2 houses and starts to follow them. Keep in mind, we do not live by an wooded area or in the country ... we are in the middle of Dallas. The only non-domestic animal I have ever seen roaming our neighborhood is the stray bunny or dirty possum. Never, ever a deer.

Mr. calls me outside and this little baby deer is just hanging out in our yard. Not trying to run away, not spooked by us and definately not scared of the 2 year old that is directly on its level. So, we do what anyone with a deer in their frontyard would do - take pictures! We thought it was going to run away any minute, but it just stands by us and does not show any signs of running away.

By this point, I was worried that when the baby deer decided to leave our yard, it would get hit by a car. We decided to put it in our backyard and then tried to call a wild animal rescue group. The baby deer simply followed us as we walked back to the backyard and walked right through the open gate. It was the strangest thing. At this point, I start to think that maybe it is a family pet. But, a baby deer as a family pet?

By now, it is past 8 and every single animal organization we can think of is closed. Miss A is loving the fact that there is a "baby deer at our door!" Or, "the baby deer is drinking Jake's water!!" "Momma, look at the baby deer!!!" I knew that as long as baby Bambi was in our yard, there was no way of getting her in bed.

Finally, I ended up calling 311 and they put me in contact with the Department of Wildlife. They decided that as long as the baby was not injured, we should just open the gate and see if the deer would leave on its own. After a while, it did just that.

As I was putting Miss A to bed, she was still talking about the baby deer. She wanted to know if she could see it in the morning.... I had to think fast on this one, so I responded with "no, the baby has to go home to sleep with its Momma and Daddy." She was happy with this answer.

So, this morning as I am leaving the neighborhood, I was on the lookout for the baby or momma and I could not find anything.

Just a normal Wednesday night.