A 64-year-old grandmother who dedicated 12 years to rehabilitating injured whitetail deer has been killed by one of the animals she cared for. Jodi Proger was found dead inside a deer enclosure on her five-acre property in Ohio after being attacked by a buck.
Police officers were forced to shoot the aggressive deer to reach Proger, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Family members had also tried to intervene before law enforcement arrived. Belmont County Sheriff James Zusack confirmed the tragic outcome in a statement.
Proger's daughter, Jennifer Bryan, clarified on social media that the deer responsible was not Wheezer, the fawn her mother rescued in 2013 after its mother was killed by a car. Wheezer had been neutered and was kept as a pet. Bryan said her mother was alone at the time of the attack, as her husband was in hospital recovering from a work accident.
Bryan recounted that her husband searched the property and struggled to contain the deer, which almost broke his hands. She instructed him to use a gun if necessary to reach her mother, but the news was devastating. The family is now grieving the loss of a woman who loved and cared for wildlife.
