Deer shot after run-in with jogger on SIU campus

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A deer that threatened a jogger and injured a Southern Illinois University police officer was shot by the law enforcer and later euthanized, marking the first deadly clash in a series of run-ins between the wildlife and humans on the campus.

University officials said the officer got between a doe and the jogger Monday night to prevent an attack, near where a deer injured three people May 23. The officer turned away briefly from the animal and, when he looked back, saw the deer charging, then wounded the animal.

Wildlife officials found the injured deer Tuesday morning and euthanized it.

The officer was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to a forearm and was released.

Deer on the campus already had been blamed in attacks on three people in recent weeks, a year after at least seven students and staffers were threatened or injured by overly protective mother does during fawning season. Two of this year's victims sought medical treatment, as did four of last year's injured.

Officials have attributed the encounters to a combination of protective motherly instinct, squeezed habitat and, in some cases, a little too much human curiosity.

Sue Davis, a spokesman for the university, said no fawns were seen during Monday's encounter.

"If it is one deer that has been doing all this, that would mean the problem is gone," Eric Hellgren, director of the school's Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, told the university's news service Tuesday. "If it's multiple deer, we might continue to see these kinds of incidents."

SIU officials last month launched a public-awareness campaign to implore anyone on the 20,000-student campus to watch out for deer, to not approach the animals and, if a wild-eyed deer starts bounding their way, to run.

SIU wildlife ecologists also have launched a two-year effort to count the deer, pinpoint how the animals affect the campus' ecosystem and gauge what locals think of them. Officials have said the study will offer no recommendations on what to do about the deer.

Given the latest incident, university officials urge pedestrians to avoid areas of the campus' sprawling Thompson Woods, the school's lake and other places where deer have been known to frequent.