Used to have a wild pet deer

[Joel's Hear]

This is a video of one of the first interactions between me and Harriet. A week later, she got stuck in a traffic jam and would have been hit by a speeding vehicle on Samish Way if I hadn't walked into the road, arms outstretched and waving, letting all the traffic know that a deer needed to cross the road. She was with her two fawns.

After that, she was super friendly with me, one time even coming up to me and my kids on our way to the Harriet Spanel Park for frisbee. It was a surreal experience. She was at arms length from us all and I told her our kids names. She understood like deer can...

Haven't seen her in a while, because we now live in a city 20 miles to the south.

Harriet was a good support animal.

 

[Mary Terry]

I love your story about Harriet. It is always amazing to me when wild animals befriend humans.

I have a brown thrasher bird living in a huge rosebush in our backyard. It's ancestors have lived in that bush and nested there for decades. It doesn't freak out when I walk within 5 feet of it - I guess it somehow knows that I mean it no harm. Such a big, beautiful bird.

I once had a pet hummingbird that stayed in our yard all winter long. Maybe it was too young to migrate south with the others. I kept hanging feeders filled with sugar water for her for months until spring arrived. When one feeder froze, I'd put out the other feeder for her. She spent each night in the big rose bush where the thrasher lives. When the hummers returned in the spring, she disappeared into the flock with the rest of them. I felt privileged to have taken care of her throughout the cold winter.

 

[Joel's Hear]

I love your story about Harriet. It is always amazing to me when wild animals befriend humans.

I have a brown thrasher bird living in a huge rosebush in our backyard. It's ancestors have lived in that bush and nested there for decades. It doesn't freak out when I walk within 5 feet of it - I guess it somehow knows that I mean it no harm. Such a big, beautiful bird.

I once had a pet hummingbird that stayed in our yard all winter long. Maybe it was too young to migrate south with the others. I kept hanging feeders filled with sugar water for her for months until spring arrived. When one feeder froze, I'd put out the other feeder for her. She spent each night in the big rose bush where the thrasher lives. When the hummers returned in the spring, she disappeared into the flock with the rest of them. I felt privileged to have taken care of her throughout the cold winter.

When we lived in Atlanta, we had a pet parakeet that the manager of our apartment had found in unstable condition. We nursed it back to health and eventually released it. For the next two years, during its seasonal migration, it would stop to say hi. That always made me feel real nice. I also cried each time I saw it. Miracles happen.