Neighbor cited for raising deer after woman is gored by buck in Black Forest

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - A 73-year-old woman has been cited in a vicious wildlife attack after she admitted to raising the animal since babyhood.

That animal, now an adult buck, gored a woman late last week while she was walking her dog in Black Forest.

According to the victim’s account, she noticed the deer following her as she and her dog walked along a wooded path in their neighbhood.

“The victim told CPW she the deer started following her as she walked her dog Friday morning. She turned to face the deer and it lowered its antlers and began jabbing her abdomen,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a news release on the incident. “When she realized she was under attack, the victim said she dropped her dog, grabbed the deer’s antlers and she and the animal fell to the ground. It gored her until she was able to regain her feet and run.”

The victim first tried getting help at a neighbor’s, then ran to her own house.

“She punched in the security code to open her garage door, only to come under attack by the deer a second time. ... The deer even continued to attack as she frantically opened her garage door. It relented only when she ran between two cars in her garage."

When wildlife officers reached the scene, the buck showed no fear.

“A CPW wildlife officer was approached outside the victim’s home by a young buck with obvious blood on its antlers. Given the aggressive nature of the buck and the visible blood on its antlers, the officer euthanized the deer.”

Wildlife officers said that prior to the attack, they had been tipped off that a neighbor had been feeding and raising an orphaned deer for the last year and a half. After the attack, the neighbor admitted to taking in the buck back when he was a days-old fawn and raising him in her home. She has been cited with illegal possession of wildlife and illegally feeding wildlife, both misdemeanors, and was issued a warning for possessing live wildlife without a license. Colorado Parks and Wildlife identified the neighor as Tynette Housley.

The victim survived the attack, but suffered serious lacerations to the top of her head, her left cheek and her legs.

“This is another sad example of what happens when people feed wildlife,” said Frank McGee, area wildlife manager for the Pikes Peak region. “They become habituated to people, lose their fear and become aggressive and dangerous.”

Feeding wildlife is not only against the law, but can have dangerous consequences for both animals and people, McGee said.

“This buck showed no fear of the woman and her dog. And when our officer responded to the scene, it approached within a few feet. This tells me the deer was very comfortable around people. Dangerously comfortable. It viewed humans as a source of food.

“... We had a young boy attacked in Colorado Springs in June. And we had a 72-year-old woman attacked and seriously injured in Black Forest in 2017. All three are lucky the results weren’t much worse.”