ORLANDO, Fla. – The quiet early morning hours Sunday were shattered in one Orlando home when a deer leaped over a bush and into the home of Kym Peoples.
Peoples, creative services director of WKMG-TV, said when she and her husband heard their front room window shatter around 3 a.m., they didn’t realize it was a four-legged intruder until they turned on the lights.
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The deer, estimated to be a full-grown doe, cut herself while coming in the window and was terrified as she tried to get out of the house, Peoples said.
“It looked like a crime scene. It truly, truly did,” she said. “It was just smearing blood everywhere.”
Greg Workman, Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesman, said the deer could have not seen the window or thought it saw another deer in the reflection, but its hard to say.
Peoples lives in Hunter’s Creek, which backs up to a conservation area.
Workman said there have been national reports of wildlife encounters like this but as a Florida native he couldn't recall an incident in Florida like the one on Sunday.
"You hear odd stuff like that every now and then," Workman said. "You don't think it's going to happen to you."
Florida is home to white-tailed deer, and in some areas, Sambar Deer.
People said she and her husband worked to free the deer from the house.
“We just had to get it out of the house,” Peoples said. “It was really hurt. I felt so bad.”
The bleeding animal, scared and making loud bleating noises, ended up in the master bedroom, then the bathroom before finally running through a door into the pool area behind the home.
Peoples said things took a turn for the worse when the doe jumped into the pool and couldn’t get out.
She said she could tell it was exhausted because it slowed down quickly while it was swimming.
Using the pool skimmer, Peoples said her husband helped guide the doe onto the steps and out of the pool.
“It just collapsed,” she said. “It was so tired.”
After a brief respite, the deer tore through the pool screen and out into the night.
Peoples said she spent the rest of the day cleaning up her home, which she said looked like a crime scene, with blood on the walls, floor and curtains.
Workman said the couple did the right thing trying to free the scared doe and said the animals are very resilient and it will most likely be fine.
Should a deer or other wildlife become trapped inside a house residents can call the Florida Fish and Wildlife hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) or 911 and dispatch will send out local experts to help, Workman said.
Find out more information on Florida deer at FWC.org.