What a New Brunswick couple initially believed to be a robbery turned into an unexpected surprise after a deer smashed through a window and broke into their house last week.
Ray and Katie O’Donnell of Hampton, N.B., came home from shopping Wednesday to what looked to be a crime scene.
“As we were going into our house, my wife noticed the window was broken, so we thought someone had broken in,” Ray told Global News.
He said they planned to call the police, but their plans quickly changed.
“I went down to the basement to check to see what was missing, and as I looked in my family room, there was a deer looking at me,” he said.
“I was very surprised. Quite surprised. I didn’t expect it at all.”
Ray said the deer, despite being outside of its natural environment, didn’t seem too panicked.
“It was actually just standing there staring at me. Probably wondering what I was,” he said.
The couple called the province’s forestry department and help soon arrived.
After “a bit of a fight,” forestry officials and family members were able to drive the deer out of the home and into the woods where it belonged.
The O’Donnells don’t know how long the deer had been inside their house, but it was there long enough to cause some mayhem.
“It came through a double window and ended up in my sewing room, and had material everywhere, doors off the cabinet, and the door going into the sewing room,” said Katie.
“So it was quite a mess and quite a shock.”
The deer appeared to cut itself during the ordeal, and left a pool of blood on a rug that had to be thrown out. Ray estimated the total damage amount to be in the range of $800 to $900.
The couple said deer are quite common in their area, and they often see them walking around. Ray said he had considered them to be a bit of a nuisance.
“We can’t plant flowers or anything like that. They just wait for us to plant them and then eat them,” he said.
Ray also said motorists in the area are wary of deer, and one actually ran into his car a few years ago.
But did he think the animals were capable of causing the level of destruction seen in his home?
“No, I never expected that,” Ray said.
Despite the damage, the O’Donnells say they’ve been able to find humour in the situation.
In a statement, Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Nick Brown confirmed staff received a call earlier this week about a deer that had entered a residence through a window in the Hampton area.
“Staff arrived at the location and successfully herded the deer outside, where it ran off into the woods,” the statement said. “It was determined that the deer sustained minimal injury.”
Brown said Hampton has a “fairly large” suburban deer population, and the animals are common around homes in the neighbourhood.
“These incidents are uncommon but not unheard of in New Brunswick,” he said of the break-in.
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