Deer attacks B.C. man in city street

A newspaper carrier in Cranbrook, B.C.,is front-page news in the same paper he delivers after he was attacked by a deer while doing his rounds.

Brock Jones came face to face with an angry doe July 5 in the southeastern B.C. city as he was cutting through a hedge, he told CBC News Wednesday.

The deer "head-butted" him and then stomped on him, causing a gash on his chin that required eight stitches to close and giving him a black eye, Jones said.

"I didn't even see it coming," he said. "I turn around, the deer's right there."

The deer then just "knocked me down," said Jones.

Deer threatened wife

He said he doesn't know why the deer attacked him but believes he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I don't know if there was a fawn down there that I didn't see," said Jones.

Jones said that a few days later, his wife was threatened by a group of deer while walking near the same spot where he was attacked. A passing car came to her rescue.

A YouTube video posted in late June showed a doe viciously attacking a domestic dog that had wandered too close to the deer's fawn in a residential Cranbrook neighbourhood.

The dog survived the attack, which has now been viewed more than two million times.

Population out of control

The deer population has exploded in Cranbrook, and the city is calling for action from the B.C. government.

A meeting with provincial conservation officers is set for July 26.

The attack on Jones has raised concerns about deer to a new level, said the city's communications officer, Chris Zettel.

Local deer attacks on humans have always involved people who were walking their dogs, but Jones was alone, which officials find "unique and concerning," Zettel said.