Deer shot dead by police has some misguided people in NJ angry (Opinion)

Some called him Melvin. Others called him Chester.

Now you could just kinda call him dinner.

A Sussex County drama went down in Andover Township last month where a local beloved deer that had lost its natural fear of humans was shot to death by police.

It began almost a year ago when a growing buck slowly got so used to people that it didn’t run anymore when they came around. Residents began feeding him and showing him affection. The aforementioned names were given.

One local man was frequently visited by the deer and even once had to free it when it got tangled in a swing out back. (Oh, and that guy named him Elliot.)

So you know what happens once you name a thing. You get emotional. You get attached. Melvin/Chester/Elliot was everyone’s deer. But while most were getting attached, some were getting…attacked.

No one believes it was intentional. But this deer was so used to people that it tried to be a bit too friendly and jump on them the way an excited dog might. Like Lenny in “Of Mice and Men” who didn’t know his own strength, it got dangerous.

There was one ‘attack’ on November 9 and another on November 22. The police found Melvin the next day, on Thanksgiving, and the decision was made to put the deer down.

The decision to kill the deer prompted some outrage on social media. Messages with #JusticeforMelvin spread.

Really folks? Life in Andover can’t be this boring. Also, this is rural Sussex County. I thought folks here had good common sense about such matters.

And what would justice for Melvin look like exactly? Should the police officers lose their jobs for performing it? Meaning keeping the public safe is a major part of their job, and that’s exactly what they were doing.

You know who the real bad guys are in this, right? It’s not Melvin/Chester/Elliot and it’s not the police officers. It’s the people who anthropomorphize wild animals and name them and feed them and try to pretend they’re just like us.

But that’s too hard to fit into a hashtag.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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