Big Pine Key man faces jail time for feeding endangered Key deer in his home, police say
Where else can you shark fish “off the dock” and “feed baby deer fresh avocado at the same time,” a Florida Keys man asked his Facebook friends in October.
His answer: “Big Pine Key. That’s where.”
The rural Lower Florida Keys island is where Key deer, the smallest species of white-tailed deer, are found almost exclusively in the world.
The problem for the man who posted the comment, 61-year-old Thomas Scancarelli? Key deer are a federally endangered species, and feeding them or handling them in any way is illegal.
He did both, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife
officers, and he let them into his home, filming and photographing 16 of the encounters and posting them to his social media.
In one post, he describes how one deer became so comfortable with Scancarelli, it was watching Fox News with him.
“You can’t make this [expletive] up,” he wrote on Jan. 12.
He was arrested this week on 16 counts of taking Key deer and 16 counts of feeding them by hand — each a second-degree felony punishable by up to 60 days in jail.
As of Thursday, Scancarelli was being held in Monroe County jail on a bond of $32,000. He could not be reached for comment, and information on his legal representation was not immediately available. Going by his Facebook posts that were included in his Feb. 27 arrest affidavit, Scancarelli became enamored with the animals and was concerned many seemed malnourished to him. He even treated one deer’s head wound with antibiotic ointment, prompting one of his Facebook friends to urge him to “keep feeding them,” according to the report.
Scancarelli responded: “Do my best,” a photo of the post included in the complaint shows.
Photos and videos posted by Scancarelli include deer begging for food at his kitchen counter and him feeding deer an orange and a slice of cheese. The deer became so at home in Scancarelli’s house, they apparently had run of the place, according to his posts Florida Fish and Wildlife Investigator Glen Way included in his report.
“On this episode of “Oh Deer.” The kids were misbehaving, as always,” he posted on Jan. 10. “There’s a deer in my bedroom, one by the sofa. Jesus, I’m just trying to find a bottle of Tito’s, and I’m dealing with this furry [expletive] show.”
Scancarelli is currently on probation for an Oct. 5, 2022, cocaine trafficking arrest in Key West. He pleaded no contest in May 2023, and was sentenced to a year in county jail, with 210 days credit for time served. In that case, he also pleaded no contest to possession of psychedelic mushrooms, possession of the ADHD medication, Adderall, and possession of the anti-anxiety medication, Alprazolam, according to court documents.
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T FEED KEY DEER
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the current population of Key deer is between 700 and 800. They live between Big Pine Key and No Name Key — about 30 miles northeast of Key
West.
“The largest bucks grow to less than a yard high at the shoulders and weigh about 80 pounds. The does are 24 to 28 inches at the shoulders and weigh about 65 pounds,” the state fish and wildlife agency says on its website.
Scientists believe their population is stable for now, but, the deer remain on the Endangered Species List. Feeding them places them at risk because it lessens their fear of people and makes them prone to approaching humans and approaching cars and trucks.
“Getting hit by vehicles is now the primary cause of Key deer mortality,” the agency said. “Illegal feeding also causes a concentration of Key deer populations, facilitating the spread of parasites and disease.”