Beloved Deer Killed By Poacher Posing As Contractor

BETHEL PARK (KDKA) -- The South Hills are divided over deer. While some people openly hate them for decimating their flowers and plants, the folks here on Stuart Street in Bethel Park decidedly fell for a mother who gave birth this summer to triplet fawns.

"To see these triplets and this lovely mother taking care of them. We were very attached, all of us were," said Elaine Grant.

So they were devastated to learn that late Sunday afternoon a hunter with a crossbow killed the mother deer in a side yard and quickly hauled her carcass away, leaving only a bloody arrow in his wake.

"Brokenhearted. Absolutely brokenhearted," Grant said.

And angry -- the neighbors called the Game Commission, saying that the hunter had violated the law by killing a deer on tightly packed Stuart Street, and Pennsylvania law says you cannot shot a deer within 50 yards of an occupied structure.

"The houses were all what? 10 to 15 feet from each other. We're just concerned that what if there was a child or one of the kids from the church," Mika Dolinar said.

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Now Bethel Park Police has joined the Commission in looking for the man not just for violating the safety zone but for other concerns. The hunter apparently flashed some sort of ID, saying he had been contracted to cull deer in the borough.

"The person that did this may have identified himself as a contract employee of Allegheny County and possibly used some kind of badge that he's not entitled to use,"

Chief Timothy O'Connor is concerned that the man is violating hunting laws while passing himself off as a county contractor.

Sheehan: You don't have a contract to cull deer with Allegheny County.
O'Connor: We do not.
Sheehan: So if he did this he would be an imposter.
O'Connor: It would appear that way. Yes.

The Game Commission would only say that it is looking for the hunter but Elaine Grant wants him and found and prosecuted.

"He has to be stopped. He's firing a dangerous weapon so close to private property. On private property. It's not legal," she said.