Gotta leash your dog when you’re in the great outdoors.
Wildlife is abundant in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Over 379 different species call the national park home, and mule deer are often easy to spot across the beautiful landscape. More than four million people visit Banff each year to try and catch a glimpse of the variety of wild animals (like bears, lynx, and moose).
Though it should be a common sense thing to keep your pet on a leash when in an area with wild animals, some people just can’t wrap their head around the idea. And most of the time, you’d be doing so for the safety of your own dog… but that’s not exactly how this situation played out in Banff National Park.
A woman who appeared to be walking her dog without a leash ended up going after a mule deer that was standing close to a building. I don’t know about you, but my pet dog has always chased critters like squirrels and rarely ever catches them. This dog is evidently a little bit faster than any “good boy” I’ve ever had, because it set its sights on a deer and actually sank its teeth into it.
The poor mule deer was doing its best to get away, but was struggling as the dog had latched onto its ear. Miraculously, the deer’s antlers were somehow avoiding both the dog and the dog’s owner that was trying to intervene… without much luck. She looked like she was about to be gored a number of times.
People videoing the encounter from a distance couldn’t believe their eyes, and provided this commentary:
“What are you doing you moron? That lady is gonna get kicked in the face, man. She’s gonna get gored.”
Though we don’t know exactly how this dog-versus-deer-versus-woman interaction ended, it wasn’t looking all that great at the end of the video. The lady was doing her best to separate the two animals, and it was going about as well as trying to put toothpaste back into the tube (incredibly hard and not likely).
And to make matters worse, the woman is likely facing a charge and/or a fine:
“Parks Canada is reportedly investigating the incident and has not yet commented on whether charges or fines will be applied to the woman, who allegedly had the dog off-leash.”
Just a scary – and undoubtedly avoidable – situation.
If she just would have had her dog on a leash, this wouldn’t have ever happened, and social media users made sure to point that out in the comments section:
“She absolutely deserves to be charged. How irresponsible.”
“Stop blaming the dogs. Blame the owners.”
“Keep your fucking dogs on a leash.”
“That poor deer.”
“I bet this lady has likely been told to leash her dog before and she’s said, ‘My dog is friendly.’ Yeah… that isn’t the problem. Leash your dogs.”
“This person shouldn’t own any animals.”
“Considering dogs are supposed to be on leash at all times… yes, fines or charges should be filed.”
And to be fair, that deer could also have easily messed up that dog, which is why it’s the law to have your dog on a leash at all times in the park. It’s also illegal to harass wildlife, which happened here… whether it was intentional or unintentional.
