A local pup suffered vicious injuries after a run-in with a deer in the Hunter Glen neighbourhood this weekend.

Jodi MacAulay had just let her dog Mya out around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning when she heard a bark and yelping from her yard.

She opened the door just in time to see a deer leap over the fence, and Mya ran inside with a deep gash.

"Her backend was ripped from hip to hip, it pulled all the skin down the back of her," MacAulay said.

One trip to the vet clinic, 40 stitches, and a $1,100 vet bill later, and Mya is on the mend. But MacAulay says the deer issue in her neighborhood could get worse - if they start becoming aggressive toward children.

"We live half a block away from Big Rock School, and my fear is it's going to be a kid next," she said.

"They're not scared of anything anymore. They'll eat the strawberries right off the deck on the front door, they're sleeping on the neighbor's deck, down on the walk path they just stand there."

Aggressive deer are not overly common in Okotoks, though the Town has heard of a few incidents since the beginning of 2019.

Christa Michailuck, former Parks Manager and current Corporate Strategist with the Town says the best way to detract aggressive deer is preventative maintenance.

"Really look at your own yard and property, and maybe even your neighbors' and look at what is attracting deer to come in your yard," she said.

She lists fruit trees, birdseed, and hedges with berries as common attractants that bring deer to local yards.

She also says provincial parks representatives recommend having a high-pressure hose near your back yard to blast deer with water to let them know it's not a safe place to hang out, just so long as you don't send them running into oncoming pedestrians.

MacAulay says she and her husband go out of their way to detract deer, and that still didn't prevent this weekend's incident.

"We don't have any feeders out, we don't even feed the birds," she said. "We pick up all the apples in our yard every year, we have a hedge that surrounds our whole property with wire mesh that goes all through there."

She says they're unable to build a permanent structure on their property because they're on an easement with the town.

While many Okotoks residents appreciate the deer and enjoy their presence, Michailuck says deer and other wildlife aren't quite as comfortable with other animals.

"Deer see the canine family as a natural predator, so don't be entitled (walking your dog) that this is your sidewalk. They are wild animals, give them the space they deserve."

The proliferation of the deer population in Okotoks has led to the forming of the Urban Deer Task Force - a citizen-led committee meant to find solutions to deal with the burgeoning wildlife population.

While the aggressive deer incident was shocking for the MacAulay's, they're grateful to the veterinarians who helped fix Mya up.

"I'm taking it in stride. You know, it was a little scary the first day," MacAulay said. "But I'm a farm kid. I'm sort of used to this sometimes. My concern, like I said, is the kids and the school."

"Just the amount of deer and the aggression they're showing these days, it's a little concerning for me."

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