Slow down on the roads, somebody out there loves you or your victim

Tigger (right) and his twin brother in the fall.
We think his mom was hit by a car.

I have nothing but praise for our OPP. It's not an easy job. Living on a highway, where people usually travel 20km above the speed limit, they are often called to incidents nearby.

This is so sad. I know it is nature, and that the average deer lasts 3 - 5 years...
I know that deer and caribou sustain many a rural family.

In rain, snow, sleet or hail.
A Muskoka OPP contable

Yesterday, we noticed an OPP constable parked on the road in front of our home.

She had stopped, turned around and parked, as a deer had been hit by a car, and left to die by the side of the road. She shot it to put it out of its misery. What a relief.

Often we go down to get our mail and find roadkill. This would have been intolerable for my deer and cat whisperer husband. The deer was struck right on the curve of the highway. Typically, it should be a spot where drivers should slow down. But they speed up to pass as they know there is a 500m straightaway up ahead. We often have to leave the highway, putting two wheels on the gravel, as drivers put speed before common sense. The car in the middle, on the right hand photo, had just passed the truck and trailer, with a truck heading for him.

Back to our deer friend. What we think is that it was the mother of the twins. It could be Tigger's mother, as she has had twins with him before. Hubby watches them, and the twin on the right has a tell-tale bit of fluff on his chin. Usually, we can only identify them by their behaviour, perhaps who they hang out with, as we normally only have females, except for Tigger.

We gave them a ration of MNR deer food in the snomageddon blizzard we are having. It seemed the right thing to do.

Someone stopped soon after, spoke to the police woman, and took the roadkill away for dinner, methinks. The wolf would have dragged her off, if the motorist did not. The wolf dragged off another carcass last fall. This is the cycle of life, but speed kills humans, too.