Melbourne family shocked after deer smashes through window
April 21, 2023 8:16 PM Subscribe
Melbourne family shocked after deer smashes through window, becomes trapped in townhouse. The stag smashed its way into the Alphington home through a window, before becoming trapped on the ground floor for about two hours. If you are thinking "I didn't know Australia HAD deer!" they are a feral, introduced species.
A pretty calm and collected stag, considering its circumstances.
And it reminds me of my favorite deer breaking through a window video of all time.
posted by jamjam at 9:00 PM on April 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
And it reminds me of my favorite deer breaking through a window video of all time.
posted by jamjam at 9:00 PM on April 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
Wait, Austalia has deer? And kangaroo? That's just not cool.
Oh wow, how terrible would it be if the deer and kangaroos managed to breed and hybridize?
Imagine deer with even more attitude and less brains that could jump 30 feet and kickbox.
And what would we call them? Kangadeer? Deeroos? Dangareers? Dangeroo!
posted by loquacious at 12:46 AM on April 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
Oh wow, how terrible would it be if the deer and kangaroos managed to breed and hybridize?
Imagine deer with even more attitude and less brains that could jump 30 feet and kickbox.
And what would we call them? Kangadeer? Deeroos? Dangareers? Dangeroo!
posted by loquacious at 12:46 AM on April 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
Bruce.
posted by flabdablet at 1:22 AM on April 22, 2023 [15 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 1:22 AM on April 22, 2023 [15 favorites]
That was stressful! To calm down have a nip of jagermeister.
posted by lalochezia at 1:27 AM on April 22, 2023
posted by lalochezia at 1:27 AM on April 22, 2023
"It is important to remember that the deer is more scared of you a predatory mortgage than you are of it."
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:30 AM on April 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:30 AM on April 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
Australia has a bunch of feral animals; cats, dogs, foxes, rabbits, horses... humans.
In the 90's we had a kids show with feral animal puppet characters, The Ferals.
The rabbit character was called Mixy, named after the disease introduced to control feral rabbits.
Australian's have a complex relationship with their feral species. In particular the horses.
We really should eradicate them properly as they have causing havoc in delicate ecosystems.
posted by neonamber at 2:39 AM on April 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
In the 90's we had a kids show with feral animal puppet characters, The Ferals.
The rabbit character was called Mixy, named after the disease introduced to control feral rabbits.
Australian's have a complex relationship with their feral species. In particular the horses.
We really should eradicate them properly as they have causing havoc in delicate ecosystems.
posted by neonamber at 2:39 AM on April 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
Oh dear...
posted by Fizz at 3:49 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Fizz at 3:49 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Imagine deer with even more attitude and less brains that could jump 30 feet and kickbox.
Imagine a kangaroo with antlers.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:26 AM on April 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
Imagine a kangaroo with antlers.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:26 AM on April 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
The family mentioned that the stag smelled terrible. Something I've noticed in morning forest walks is the strong smell of the deer when they have just left a trail. I would describe it as intensely horse-like. Makes me all nostalgic for when I rode horses during summer vacations in Colorado as a little girl.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 5:38 AM on April 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 5:38 AM on April 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Imagine deer with even more attitude and less brains that could jump 30 feet and kickbox.
I read that as “beatbox” instead of “kickbox.” Definitely something to imagine…
posted by Slinga at 5:42 AM on April 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
I read that as “beatbox” instead of “kickbox.” Definitely something to imagine…
posted by Slinga at 5:42 AM on April 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
Imagine a kangaroo with antlers.
The most dangerous of the North American cryptids is the jackalope….
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:43 AM on April 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
The most dangerous of the North American cryptids is the jackalope….
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:43 AM on April 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
Imagine deer with even more attitude and less brains that could jump 30 feet and kickbox.
no thank you - i was going through the woods looking for one of my dogs when i came face to face with a big 10 or 11 point buck - he was bigger than i was and didn't seem more scared - i turned my head to see if there was a tree to climb behind me, just in case and when i turned my head back he had left without a sound and i couldn't see him
deer seem to be fairly clever once they're away from the roads
posted by pyramid termite at 5:49 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
no thank you - i was going through the woods looking for one of my dogs when i came face to face with a big 10 or 11 point buck - he was bigger than i was and didn't seem more scared - i turned my head to see if there was a tree to climb behind me, just in case and when i turned my head back he had left without a sound and i couldn't see him
deer seem to be fairly clever once they're away from the roads
posted by pyramid termite at 5:49 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
I recently read something about deer which really surprised me: deer do not get Lyme disease and in fact, when a tick drops off a deer after feeding, it is Lyme disease free, and cannot transmit the disease to humans
posted by jamjam at 7:02 AM on April 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
WHITE-TAILED DEER BLOOD KILLS BACTERIA THAT CAUSES LYME DISEASEThe ticks pick up the Lyme bacterium from mice.
[…]
The Lyme disease bacterium is passed to juvenile blacklegged (Ixodes scapularis) deer ticks from mice the arthropods feed on. The infected ticks then pass the bacterium on to humans when they feed on people.
“We are the accidental host,” Rich says. “The ticks that bite us are actually looking for a deer because that’s where they breed. Without the deer, you don’t have ticks. But if you had only deer, you wouldn’t have any Lyme.”
posted by jamjam at 7:02 AM on April 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
This story needs some bogan.
posted by srboisvert at 7:41 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by srboisvert at 7:41 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Australia has a bunch of feral animals; cats, dogs, foxes, rabbits, horses... humans.
Homo sapiens has been part of the Australian continent's biotic community for at least 65,000 years.
From an ecological perspective I'd argue that it's European culture, not the human species per se, that could reasonably be described as an introduced pest here.
posted by flabdablet at 8:03 AM on April 22, 2023 [13 favorites]
Homo sapiens has been part of the Australian continent's biotic community for at least 65,000 years.
From an ecological perspective I'd argue that it's European culture, not the human species per se, that could reasonably be described as an introduced pest here.
posted by flabdablet at 8:03 AM on April 22, 2023 [13 favorites]
My last apartment was in Deer Central. There was one young buck who used to come to my patio and stare in the sliding glass doors like he was watching TV.
And I've known more than one person who had a deer accidentally charge through an open window of their moving car.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:22 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
And I've known more than one person who had a deer accidentally charge through an open window of their moving car.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:22 AM on April 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Friend of mine lives in a semi-rural area near Michigan. She's had a buck come to her back deck and sliding door a few times. Once, she had the door open but the screen shut to let in air/keep out bugs. The buck came by around sunset. She said it smelled really, really bad... I asked her what it smelled like and she told me it was a "General funk." So now she calls this particular animal General Funk.
Never occurred to me that it might be seeing its reflection in her window. Hope it doesn't smash it open some day. She sees it pretty often.
(She said the animal smelled really bad, but appeared healthy... not sure what deer are supposed to smell like. This article mentioned a bad smell, too, which is what made me think of the story. She does not encourage the deer to come by and does not feed them, by the way)
posted by SoberHighland at 11:52 AM on April 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Never occurred to me that it might be seeing its reflection in her window. Hope it doesn't smash it open some day. She sees it pretty often.
(She said the animal smelled really bad, but appeared healthy... not sure what deer are supposed to smell like. This article mentioned a bad smell, too, which is what made me think of the story. She does not encourage the deer to come by and does not feed them, by the way)
posted by SoberHighland at 11:52 AM on April 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Imagine a kangaroo with antlers.
Oh no. I was half asleep when I posted that this morning and didn't even think about a kangaroo with antlers. This is cursed.
deer seem to be fairly clever once they're away from the roads
I can confirm that they absolutely are not.
I watched deer, especially bucks in rutting season, do very silly things like run headlong into a tree, bounce off of it, run away in several apparently random directions then bolt straight back to collide with the same exact tree just moments later.
And it definitely wasn't some kind of confused rutting head butt and charge like they were clashing antlers with a buck-shaped tree. It was all just derp derp derp boing derp SPLAT derp boing derp derp SPLAT derp derp.
And it wasn't that I startled the deer. I don't think the deer even saw me as I was just quietly sitting on a log relatively hidden from view. I could hear that they were already thrashing about through the undergrowth and bouncing off of trees long before I saw them.
They get really incredibly silly during rutting season and I've seen bucks in particular just pinballing through the woods like this dozens of times now.
Yeah, they can move quietly through the woods if they want to but oh man they are not what I would call smart or clever animals even if I put the anthropomorphism aside.
I will grant that they're very clever about eating things out of your garden or yard if you don't have deer fencing up but most animals are very clever about eating things.
As someone who rides a bike through the woods they're utterly terrifying. I've accidentally startled bucks and does a few times and have had some near misses where they basically tried to leap through me and if I didn't have good brakes they would have hit me.
It's especially bad where I live because there aren't really any apex predators and people don't really hunt here so they've had like 30-50+ years to slowly devolve into extra silly and derpy deers.
The deer around here are so extra derpy that even some of the crunchiest vegan hippies I know (and we have extra crunchy hippies, here) think that we should be allowed to hunt them within city limits just because there's too damn many of them and they can easily flatten and destroy a veggie garden if they get inside the fence.
Every so often I'll find myself on a bike ride or hike with someone who isn't familiar with deer - especially our local extra derpy deer - and they'll want to slow down, stop and look at the deer. Or even start to approach a buck with a full rack during rutting season like it's going to hang out for a scritch and a selfie.
Oh my God no, please don't do that. Keep riding! That deer will totally fuck you up if you get too close to it.
Yes, sure, we can stop to watch the deer from way over here, like 50 feet away, that's fine. No, don't give it your apple from your lunch. There's plenty of deadfall apples for the deer.
I actually like the deer and don't really hate them or anything, but, oh man are they dangerously derpy.
posted by loquacious at 11:56 AM on April 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
Oh no. I was half asleep when I posted that this morning and didn't even think about a kangaroo with antlers. This is cursed.
deer seem to be fairly clever once they're away from the roads
I can confirm that they absolutely are not.
I watched deer, especially bucks in rutting season, do very silly things like run headlong into a tree, bounce off of it, run away in several apparently random directions then bolt straight back to collide with the same exact tree just moments later.
And it definitely wasn't some kind of confused rutting head butt and charge like they were clashing antlers with a buck-shaped tree. It was all just derp derp derp boing derp SPLAT derp boing derp derp SPLAT derp derp.
And it wasn't that I startled the deer. I don't think the deer even saw me as I was just quietly sitting on a log relatively hidden from view. I could hear that they were already thrashing about through the undergrowth and bouncing off of trees long before I saw them.
They get really incredibly silly during rutting season and I've seen bucks in particular just pinballing through the woods like this dozens of times now.
Yeah, they can move quietly through the woods if they want to but oh man they are not what I would call smart or clever animals even if I put the anthropomorphism aside.
I will grant that they're very clever about eating things out of your garden or yard if you don't have deer fencing up but most animals are very clever about eating things.
As someone who rides a bike through the woods they're utterly terrifying. I've accidentally startled bucks and does a few times and have had some near misses where they basically tried to leap through me and if I didn't have good brakes they would have hit me.
It's especially bad where I live because there aren't really any apex predators and people don't really hunt here so they've had like 30-50+ years to slowly devolve into extra silly and derpy deers.
The deer around here are so extra derpy that even some of the crunchiest vegan hippies I know (and we have extra crunchy hippies, here) think that we should be allowed to hunt them within city limits just because there's too damn many of them and they can easily flatten and destroy a veggie garden if they get inside the fence.
Every so often I'll find myself on a bike ride or hike with someone who isn't familiar with deer - especially our local extra derpy deer - and they'll want to slow down, stop and look at the deer. Or even start to approach a buck with a full rack during rutting season like it's going to hang out for a scritch and a selfie.
Oh my God no, please don't do that. Keep riding! That deer will totally fuck you up if you get too close to it.
Yes, sure, we can stop to watch the deer from way over here, like 50 feet away, that's fine. No, don't give it your apple from your lunch. There's plenty of deadfall apples for the deer.
I actually like the deer and don't really hate them or anything, but, oh man are they dangerously derpy.
posted by loquacious at 11:56 AM on April 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
Metafilter: derp derp derp boing derp SPLAT derp boing derp derp SPLAT derp derp.
posted by MrVisible at 12:01 PM on April 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by MrVisible at 12:01 PM on April 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
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