Shaker Deer Attack: Husband Stepped Between Wife and Lunging Deer

Dominic Yen never imagined he would have to step between his wife and an attacking deer.

But that's exactly what happened in the backyard of his Landon Road home last week, after a deer charged and attacked his wife and two daughters.

Yen said the ordeal began sometime after 8 p.m. on June 5, when the family let their 8-pound dog outside. A deer charged out and attacked the dog, leaving a long gash in its back.

Yen said his wife and daughters took the dog to the vet to have the wound cleaned. And when they pulled into the driveway sometime around 11:30 p.m. that night, the deer returned and charged at them.

Yen was getting ready for bed when he heard screaming outside.

"I see my wife and two daughters in the backyard, and a deer is rearing up," Yen told Shaker Heights Patch. "My wife had already been attacked and had blood on her leg."

Yen said he kept a pistol in his bedroom, so he grabbed the gun and ran outside. He stepped between the deer, which reared up and lunged at him. He shot the deer once from about five feet away, and the animal ran off. 

"I sure wasn't armed to go hunting," Yen said.

He ran inside and called Shaker Heights Police. Officers later found the deer in a neighbor's yard, where they euthanized it.

A wildlife officer who came to his home told him the deer, which was female, was perhaps protecting fawns or, if a nearby resident had been leaving food out for the deer, guarding its food supply.

Yen said his wife had a cut and a large bruise on her leg, and that his two daughters, aged 15 and 16, were pretty shaken up from the incident. He said his wife is nervous to go into the back yard.

The Yens have lived in Shaker for 10 years. He said he sees deer near his house regularly, and sometimes young ones get caught in his backyard gate.

"We are sort of familiar with deer activity, but not that kind of activity," Yen said. "You don't usually have that kind of a problem with deer in Shaker Heights."

Yen said he believes the deer population has grown too large and that the city should consider a culling program.

"The city has been more active with deer every year," he said. "Now you see them every month of the year."