Boystown Deer Family to Be Relocated

The story of a deer and her two fawns who've planted stakes in a Boystown courtyard is one of those stories that's full of "awwws" and "oooooohhhhs" and "that's so cute"'s. But the deer are being starting to be sustained by a growing number of neighborhood residents feeding them apples from a nearby whole foods and drinking milk from bottles.

Rather than let the neighbors further domesticate them, Animal Control, which said they've been monitoring the deer for a week, will now relocate them. City Animal Care and Control Commissioner Cherie Travis said her department normally doesn't interfere with cases like this unless an animal is in danger or poses a threat to the community, hoping that the deer finds its way to a forest preserve. Since residents have ignored Animal Control's requests to not feed the deer, they have no choice.

Travis said that signs posted in the neighborhood asking to not feed the deer were removed.

“We were aware people were feeding the fawns with a baby bottle when the mother was not there,” Travis said. This could be dangerous to the fawns and those feeding them, she explained.

The office of 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney also expressed concern that the deer could pose problems for next weekend's Gay Pride parade, when Lakeview becomes an outdoor bacchanalia. Travis said they're trying to make the best of a bad situation. “We’re looking at a lot of different options to remove them as humanely as possible. We are exploring a lot of options, none of which are really good.”

(Video by Greg Consier)