March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Killing of pet red deer angers Hollis owner

HOLLIS — Neighborhood kids fed him apples and named him Lefty Lou.

“He would come right up to the fence because he hoped you would have an apple. He would literally put his nose through the fence. He also loved pears,” Joan Bradbury said of her domesticated red deer.

On Sunday, the day after the start of Maine’s deer hunting season, someone shot Lefty Lou in the gut and left him to bleed to death in the fenced-in corral he shared with 17 other deer, across from Bradbury’s home.

“It’s the worst way for an animal to die. We don’t know how long it took. But he wandered off and we had to look to find him,” Bradbury said.

She expressed outrage that someone would shoot the animal, let alone do it so close to her house.

“Whoever shot him, shot a pet,” Bradbury said. “What a real coward this guy must be.”

The shooting violated two laws, officials said, because it occurred within 100 yards of a residence and because state law does not allow hunting on Sundays.

The York County Sheriff’s Department responded to Bradbury’s report of the incident.


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