Among the dead: Ella the deer befriends abandoned dog at historic Elmwood Cemetery

[wfgodot]

[video=youtube;GsB5Yt9ZBMw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsB5Yt9ZBMw[/video]

 

[BOESP]

I hope they find out whoever did this and the person is prosecuted.

 

[lizzybeth]

Not really something I wanted to hear today. I'm starting to really hate people.

RIP Ella.

 

[wfgodot]

Man cited in killing of Kansas City cemetery deer Ella. (Kansas City Star)

A 19-year-old man who said he was trying to get food for his family was cited for a misdemeanor in the shooting death of Ella, a deer that lived in and delighted visitors to Kansas City’s Elmwood Cemetery.

Phoenix M. Vankirk of Kansas City was issued a ticket Thursday for taking a deer out of season, a code violation punishable by a fine of $1,000 and a year in jail.
---
Some had hoped the deer’s killer would face a tougher penalty.

“I’m incredibly disappointed,” said Eric Phelps of In Defense of Animals, which put up $1,500 in reward money in the case. Phelps said he will push local officials to file additional charges.
---

long article at link above

Also good: It’s OK to mourn Ella the deer. (Kansas City Star)

 

[drip~drop]

Boy, this whole beautiful thing ended badly.
Tears are spilling down my cheeks.
Why can't people be better to the fuzzies?!
:tears:

 

[popsicle]

Another link with a video and interview. This 19 y/o, per the article, wanted to feed his gf and 8 month baby.... what baby eats deer meat at 8 months?

http://www.kctv5.com/story/23300063/prosecutor-man-confesses-to-killing-cemetery-deer-to-feed-family

The man told the conservation officer and a Jackson County sheriff's deputy that he was on his front porch grilling on Aug. 3 when he saw Ella standing in the grass.

He said he got his .45-caliber handgun. He "jumped the fence of the cemetery and hid behind a tree and waited for the deer to get closer to him." He said after he shot Ella that she ran for a bit before collapsing.

He said he tried to get his vehicle into the cemetery to retrieve her body but discovered the gates were locked.

 

[BeginnersLuck]

Stupid humans!

I don't want to buy this story, but seeing so many things people do without thinking things through first, I suppose there could be truth to it.

He could have gone to a food bank, got help from a church, WIC for the child....there are so many options available. He could have legally hunted.

I just find it surprising that he wasn't aware of Ella.

 

[wishuwerehere]

Initially reading about Ella the Deer’s story was moving and heartwarming. The way she befriended the little dog was like a fairy tale. When the dog was taken away at first I felt sad for Ella, but then I realized she would continue her life’s work by comforting the mourners at the cemetery.

Unfortunately, her story didn’t end there. The most recent news about Ella being gunned down broke my heart as well as many others. She made an impact.

I live in a heavily wooded area and sometimes I see a deer here and there traveling along through the trees. But this last Thursday I found a dog in my yard I had never seen before. She was skin and bones, full of sores, and extremely lethargic. I brought her some kibbles and she inhaled them. So I fed her some more. She stayed in the yard overnight and the next morning she was still here. I kept feeding the pup, and created a sleeping area just for her. Then I gave her a bath and a new spirit emerged from that dog. She started frolicking and rolling around and was happy. It made me think about Ella and how she may have befriended this dog.

She’s only about a year old. Took her to the vet to get shots and a check-up. She’s home now.

Her name is Ella.

 

[popsicle]

Initially reading about Ella the Deer’s story was moving and heartwarming. The way she befriended the little dog was like a fairy tale. When the dog was taken away at first I felt sad for Ella, but then I realized she would continue her life’s work by comforting the mourners at the cemetery.

Unfortunately, her story didn’t end there. The most recent news about Ella being gunned down broke my heart as well as many others. She made an impact.

I live in a heavily wooded area and sometimes I see a deer here and there traveling along through the trees. But this last Thursday I found a dog in my yard I had never seen before. She was skin and bones, full of sores, and extremely lethargic. I brought her some kibbles and she inhaled them. So I fed her some more. She stayed in the yard overnight and the next morning she was still here. I kept feeding the pup, and created a sleeping area just for her. Then I gave her a bath and a new spirit emerged from that dog. She started frolicking and rolling around and was happy. It made me think about Ella and how she may have befriended this dog.

She’s only about a year old. Took her to the vet to get shots and a check-up. She’s home now.

Her name is Ella.

She's beautiful and what a heartwarming story. Thanks for sharing that and for having such a huge and loving heart.

 

[wfgodot]

Maybe nothing ever happens once and is finished. Maybe happen is never once but like ripples maybe on water after the pebble sinks, the ripples moving on, spreading, the pool attached by a narrow umbilical water-cord to the next pool which the first pool feeds, has fed, did feed, let this second pool contain a different temperature of water, a different molecularity of having seen, felt, remembered, reflect in a different tone the infinite unchanging sky, it doesn’t matter: that pebble’s watery echo whose fall it did not even see moves across its surface too at the original ripple-space, to the old ineradicable rhythm.…

- William Faulkner, from his novel Absalom, Absalom!

 

[Backwoods]

Initially reading about Ella the Deer’s story was moving and heartwarming. The way she befriended the little dog was like a fairy tale. When the dog was taken away at first I felt sad for Ella, but then I realized she would continue her life’s work by comforting the mourners at the cemetery.

Unfortunately, her story didn’t end there. The most recent news about Ella being gunned down broke my heart as well as many others. She made an impact.

I live in a heavily wooded area and sometimes I see a deer here and there traveling along through the trees. But this last Thursday I found a dog in my yard I had never seen before. She was skin and bones, full of sores, and extremely lethargic. I brought her some kibbles and she inhaled them. So I fed her some more. She stayed in the yard overnight and the next morning she was still here. I kept feeding the pup, and created a sleeping area just for her. Then I gave her a bath and a new spirit emerged from that dog. She started frolicking and rolling around and was happy. It made me think about Ella and how she may have befriended this dog.

She’s only about a year old. Took her to the vet to get shots and a check-up. She’s home now.

Her name is Ella.

Bless you, wishuwerehere, for taking in the little stray, now named Ella -- and bless her, too, long and happy may you both live! (ETA: And your Ella is just beautiful, by the way!!)

I, too, was really deeply touched by the story of Ella the deer (and her mom) and her dog friend -- and brokenhearted to hear that someone shot her. Why, why, why? It haunted me for days when I heard...

 

[Montjoy]

I brought her some kibbles and she inhaled them. So I fed her some more. She stayed in the yard overnight and the next morning she was still here.

I can't add to this.

 

[lizzybeth]

I'm sure he'll pay the $375 fine and go on with his life (although he'll be forever known as Ella's murderer). I really wish he had to pay the $1,000 and spend a year in jail. Not that it makes up for what he did but it's certainly better than paying a small fine.

No way did he NOT know that Ella was tame unless he just moved into that city (and the video and interview doesn't say that he did). He's stupid and immature as well as beyond heartless.

 

[wfgodot]

kctv5.com:

Memorial in place for Ella the deer

kansascity.com:

Young and old mourn Ella the cemetery deer

 

[EllieBee]

Wfgodot:

I am wiping tears from my face after reading this thread. Bittersweet.

 

[bluesneakers]

Wfgodot:

I am wiping tears from my face after reading this thread. Bittersweet.

Same here.

Thank you for the update wfgodot.

 

[wfgodot]

Same here.

Thank you for the update wfgodot.

Sure.

It took too long in coming -- the articles are from September 2013 --but as EllieBee noted above, what can be called the bittersweet nature of this story made me hesitant to return to it.

Ella the deer and her friend the stray dog stepped off the page and into our hearts three Christmases ago now. I daresay they won't be leaving. In memory is life eternal.

 

[uburoi1]

Is there a more fitting eulogy for 2020 than this thread?