Deer living in B.C. home has to go, officials demand

The B.C. owner of a domesticated deer that likes to eat cookies, watch TV and dance to rock and roll says provincial officials are once again demanding she turn the animal loose.

The black-tailed deer has been living inside Janet Schwartz'shome in the Vancouver Islandtown of Ucluelet since it was a fawn, and Schwartz is refusing to forcethe 10-year-old animal out.

In 2009, officials with the B.C. Ministry of Environment ordered Schwartz to set the deer free or takeit to a rehabilitation centre, sayingwild animals should not be kept as pets.

Schwartz said she and the deer, which shes named Bimbo, have been living happily since provincial officials backed offwhen the story first hit the media.

"She's still living in the house, she still sleeps on the bed and she still loves Elvis Presley," Schwartz told CBC News.

But on Tuesday, environmental officers were back.

"The ministry of the environment came here with a new paper, stating I've got to let Bimbo loose totallyno collar, no bell, no nothing. If I don't let her go, they're going to charge me."

Complicating matters is the fact that Bimbo is pregnant.

"She's been pregnant a month and she's craving cookies like you wouldn't believe, chocolate cookies," said Schwartz.

Schwartz said she isnt sure if it was a male elk or a buck deer who visited Bimbo in her outside pen.

Schwartz said she's not sure what she'll do with the fawn when its born, but said as far as shes concerned, Bimbo isn't going anywhere.

"I'm not going to let her go, no way."