Down here in Dixie you can't even keep a whitetail in a fenced enclosure...

In Alabama, keeping a wild animal as a pet is illegal - and not too smart
Updated: Mar. 28, 2019, 12:51 p.m. | Published: Feb. 27, 2011, 3:40 p.m.


By Michael C. Bolton
Fawn-0227-11.jpgA fawn is really cute, but it has no place in a human family. (The Birmingham News file / Joe Songer)
It seems harmless enough. You find what appears to be a helpless abandoned fawn in a meadow. Your first instinct is one of compassion. You take the helpless creature home with you and feed it and take care of it. You name it Bambi, of course, and your friends marvel at what an incredible pet it will be.

Over the past 25 years I've witnessed dozens of well-meaning people make pets of deer, raccoons, gray squirrels, flying squirrels, skunks and other wildlife. I visited a couple that had a female deer living inside their home, another that had a small buck that followed their kids around like a dog.

These stories rarely have fairy tale endings. One family had a fawn killed inside their home by the family dog. Another had a fawn killed in their yard by neighborhood dogs. Others have been forced to take deer away and release them after they became too aggressive. Others have been bitten by seemingly tame raccoons and squirrels.

A wise person talking about keeping wild animals as pets once said that ego plus denial equals death. That may seem a little dramatic, but maybe not. A recent incident in Cleburne County could have had fatal consequences. A 12-year-old boy that had a raised a buck from a fawn in a backyard enclosure was attacked by that buck. The boy was hospitalized with serious puncture wounds.

No amount of human kindness and loving can turn a wild animal into something other than what it is. Owners of such "pets" are often shocked when the animal turns on them, using a behavior that is the animal's normal behavior. Wild animals have short memories when it comes to how kindly that they have been treated by humans.

Keeping native wildlife as pets has been unlawful in Alabama for decades, but it has always been a fairly common practice in rural areas. Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries actually issued permits on a case-by-case basis for anyone keeping wildlife in captivity, but most of those with deer in backyard pens or a squirrel in their home ignored that step.

By 2002 the number of people keeping wildlife in captivity and the problems it was causing was so severe that the state ceased issuing permits. Now, any individual keeping wildlife for any reason is in violation of state law. Only zoos or wildlife exhibits can still receive permits.

White-tailed deer are probably the most commonly illegally kept wildlife in the state and they can be the most dangerous, especially in the case of bucks.

Bucks raised from fawns tend to be peaceful toward their human owner most of the year and likely consider humans one of them. That creates a false sense of security for the human. Certain times of the year it is natural for a buck to fight other bucks and that's when humans are drawn in. Since humans have no antlers or slashing hooves they stand no chance.

If you're considering skirting the law you might want to tune to "Fatal Attractions" on the Animal Planet cable network on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. The show details the lives of humans that have taken in wild animals as pets and the often fatal consequences.

It will make you want to get rid of your goldfish.

Mike Bolton's outdoors column appears on Sundays in The Birmingham News. E-mail him at mboltonbhamnews.com.

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And you cant keep an Indian Axis deer either. Interesting how the DNR laws vary from state to state.