What happens when an animal makes an enormous mess of your store? You clean it up and document it for posterity on social media, of course.
A deer smashed through the front glass window of an antique store in Dothan, Alabama, on Tuesday, tore through a booth, and left through a door an employee opened for it. Blue Daisy Antique posted photos of the aftermath, and owner Mary Kay Floyd said no people or the deer were hurt, according to UPI. The store logged the deer’s entrance at 12:42 p.m.
Floyd said the deer damaged the store and its merchandise as it moved through a booth of antiques. A quick-thinking employee opened a door, and the animal ran back out. The store stayed open afterward, with customers steered away from the front entrance.
The Wiregrass Daily News reported the deer caused what the store described as a ruckus before it got out. The photos showed a shattered storefront and a booth left in disarray. The broken glass and scattered merchandise were the extent of it, with no injuries on either side.
It might sound weird, but deer are no strangers to jumping into glass windows like this. A startled deer that sees its own reflection might run straight at the glass. Once inside the small space, it panics and thrashes until it finds a way out. The employee opening a door gave this one exactly that.
Why Deer End Up Crashing Through Windows
A deer’s instinct when frightened is to run hard and fast. Large glass windows can be particularly dangerous because a deer can see the landscape reflected in the glass or an open path through a lit interior and try to run to it. That’s how deer end up going through storefronts, houses, and office lobbies.
A trapped deer will thrash against fixtures and merchandise, looking for an exit. That’s where most of the damage and most of the injury risk come from. You should back away from the deer, avoid cornering the animal, and open the widest possible exit so it can leave on its own, which is close to what the Blue Daisy employee did.
What to Do If a Deer Gets Into a Building
The safest response is to give a trapped deer a clear way out rather than try to catch it. Opening doors and stepping back lets the animal find the exit, while approaching or cornering it can trigger kicks and flailing hooves that injure people and the deer alike. Keeping pets and bystanders clear of the path helps.
If a deer will not leave or has hurt itself, you should call local animal control or a state wildlife agency rather than handle it directly. In Alabama, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources oversees deer, and its wildlife staff or local officers can respond to an animal that is stuck or injured. For a business, documenting the damage with photos, as the store did, also helps with any insurance claim afterward.