http://www.penasee.com/news/story.asp?id=453056279
Mysterious, mini, muntjac wanders to Wayland
Monday, November 24, 2003
Charlotte Weick
"Are you my Mommy?" This muntjac, or "muntiacus
reeves" is a long way from his native
China. How the mini-buck got into the
yard of a Wayland resident is a muntjac
mystery. Photo by Dan Miller
What is 18 inches tall, has tiny antlers, fangs, barks like a dog, and can scale a four-foot fence? John L. Polmanteer would like to know, because the critter wandered into his yard Saturday, Nov. 8.
Polmanteer, who lives at 316 Frank in Wayland, was astounded to see an itty-bitty buck foraging in his yard, baffled at how it got there. "We have problems with dogs, and we have a four-foot snow fence," he said.
"That ain't no deer!" he exclaimed, after getting a good look at it.
He began calling neighbors, friends, the DNR, and zoos, hoping he could identify the diminutive deer-like animal. Bystanders fed the timid creature peanut butter, carrots and apples; several people, including Wayland police chief Dan Miller, photographed it.
"It was hungry." Polmanteer said.
When his son-in-law tried to grab it, the muntjac "leisurely took off," climbed partly over the fence, then scampered away.
A photo of the animal was sent to head zookeeper Jenny Barnett of the Binder Park Zoo.
"This is a muntjac, a small deer from China," she said.
Knowing what it is only deepens the mystery. Polmanteer is dying to know how it got there, where it came from, and where it has gone.
According to the website www.zoo.org/educate/fact, the muntjac is widely distributed throughout southern and southeast Asia, from India in the west, to China in the east, and south to Indonesian islands. They can weigh from 31-62 pounds, and are called "barking deer." They live in the forest, grazing on fallen fruit, grasses, shoots and low-growing plants.
Muntjacs reproduce rapidly, because they can breed at any time of the year. They are quickly spreading in rural England and France, after having escaped from wildlife preserves. Some consider them a nuisance, because they strip bark from trees.
Even though its antlers are tiny, they are sharp, and someone trying to grab a frightened animal could be gored, Barnett said.
"My daughter-in-law saw the fangs, and they looked strong," Pat Polmanteer said. "It looked really cute until it showed its teeth."
"A person would need a permit," to have an animal like a muntjac, said said. Lt. Raymond Boehringer, district supervisor for the law enforcement division of the DNR in Plainwell.
He said some people can have exotic species, let them out at night, and the critters escape. Others keep exotics as pets, but later release them into the wild. "I think that's how we get a lot of our sightings, such as cougars," he said. Boehringer said he knows of Wayland area residents who keep small fallow-deer, but doesn't know where the muntjac may have come from.
He cautioned that wild animals should never be approached; anyone seeing an exotic animal should call the DNR or local animal control agency.
Will the mini-buck be caught, returned to his owner, or shot by local hunters who might mistake it for a deer? Will he tangle with a coyote, or be stuck by a car crossing a country road? While they can thrive in Europe, can the Wayland muntjac stand up to the rigors of a Michigan winter? "I hate to think of him out there right now," Polmanteer said.