Trail reopens after aggressive deer incidents in New Canaan

NEW CANAAN — A Land Trust trail has been reopened after recent reports of aggressive deer interactions with residents, said Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm.

Land Trust officials assume a mother deer became agitated on June 9 after being unable to move a newborn fawn from a nearby well-traveled path, causing two incidents in which hikers were hurt on the green link between the Nature Center and Irwin Park.

Around midday, two women were confronted by a deer running toward them before the animal “tore down the fencing to escape,” Halm said. The women's legs and arms were scratched, which Halm believes to be caused by twigs and fencing, not the deer.

The deer reportedly approached the female hikers in a narrow part of the path on the trail that spans between residential properties, where homeowners have installed fences roughly 10 feet from each other. Vegetation had grown on the north side of the trail, leaving only a few feet on either side of the thin walkway.

Halm said that the animals' “fight or flight instinct” kicked in when they were unable to escape.

Later that day, a Land Trust member walked with her dog through the area and reported that she witnessed a deer “acting very frantically,” Halm said.

The deer did not attack, just snorted at the resident, Land Trust Board member Chris Schipper added.

Halm said she reported the incident to the Land Trust and the Nature Center and requested a sign be posted at both ends of the trail. The organizations responded immediately with a sign warning visitors of an aggressive deer, but did not close the trail at that time.

“Then at dusk, a couple was walking in the same narrow part of the path and the deer reportedly got on its hind legs and began to pummel them to the point where the husband had to fight the deer off,” Halm said that she was told in an email. After the attack, Halm said the couple ran towards the Nature Center with the deer following them and their two dogs. At one point the dogs had a alerted a fawn, Halm said she was told.

Schipper said he believes the encounter was caused by a doe protecting a newborn and the trail was closed by Land Trust to relieve some of the pressure off the mother deer, which he said was dubbed “Jane Doe.”

Land Trust Chairman Tom Cronin said he had also believed that the incident occurred because a doe was trying to protect her fawn, which he said was seen shortly after the incident.

The trail was closed Friday morning after the alleged attack the evening prior, Halm said. “I believe they closed the trail in a timely manner,” she added.

The fully furred newborns fawns are able to walk within the first 24 hours of their birth, according World Deer website.

The mother deer will leave the fawn concealed and the doe to go and find food, Halm said. Residents often think the fawns are deserted, but she has urged residents to leave fawns alone, because the mother is usually nearby.

Schipper expects the Land Trust to cut back foliage and create more space on the trail for the future. The green link consists of two Land Trust properties and an easement through residential properties between the Nature Center on Oenoke Road and Irwin Park on Weed Street.