Deer family appears to accept B.C. man as one of their own
There is no denying that Robert Conrad has a way with animals.
We watched as he approached horses at the Cheekye Ranch in Squamish, and was able to put them at ease almost instantly. They were not spooked, and appeared to genuinely enjoy his company.
Years earlier, he had a similar bond with horses he worked with in the Okanagan.
“This horse would just fall asleep in my arms, and he would lick my face, and lick my neck, and he would do it for, like, half an hour,” he recalled while sitting on the bank of the river.
“I thought, could I try something like this with the deer?”
For the next two-and-a-half years, beginning in 2018, he spent thousands of hours on Crown land behind his home off Okanagan Lake, sitting still and waiting patiently for deer.
“They would sit like maybe 10 metres away from me, but they got more comfortable with me, and then they would get up and actually come closer to me and then sit right down,” he said.
He told CTV News that he never fed them, and rarely moved. The deer just got closer and closer.
B.C. resident Robert Conrad spent thousands of hours on Crown land developing a unique bond with deer.
“I was able to pet them and got to the point that I could hug them,” he said. “I was able to touch their wet nose, which is amazing. It’s nice, wet and soft.”
Eventually, Conrad was able to groom and run them, he could even take naps by their side.
A young buck enjoyed playfully sparring.
“I would actually put on a life jacket and he would actually play with me so he would put his antlers in, and it would be like a tug-of-war, just like he would do with the other males who were his friends,” Conrad recounted with amazement.
Doe became so comfortable, they would introduce their newborn fawn.
“The mother somehow communicated with the deer that this guy is almost like one of us.”
Many of these encounters were captured in thousands of pictures and video, which Conrad is still sorting through.
He is well aware some people think he’s nuts for spending so much with them. Some of his neighbours became annoyed with it, and starting threatening the deer.
“People treated the deer very terribly. They would throw rocks at them, they would shoot BB and pellets at them,” he said. “If you don't want deer around, then live in Tokyo or New York or Vancouver.”
B.C. resident Robert Conrad spent thousands of hours on Crown land developing a unique bond with deer.
The situation became bad enough that Conrad felt he had to move away. He now lives in Squamish and works in human relations.
“I just felt that for the deer to have some hope of being left alone, that I would have to kind of leave them,” he said, admitting he misses them dearly.
But he hopes he can teach others what he’s learned - that deer are smart, peaceful and very quiet animals.
When he returned to visit a few years later, he was convinced his “deer family” remembered exactly who he was.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
'Fatalities' reported following wrong-way collision on Highway 401, SIU called in: police
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has been called in following a deadly wrong-way collision on Highway 401 in Whitby on Monday night, say police.
Winner of US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot is an immigrant from Laos who has cancer
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III returned to public duties on Tuesday, visiting a cancer treatment charity and beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch's own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.