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‘The cutest thing’: Queen Charlotte resident films interaction between curious cat, deer

Elizabeth Taylor says the backyard meet-and-greet lasted almost half an hour
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Queen Charlotte resident Elizabeth Taylor captured video of her cat Pip interacting with a deer in the backyard of her apartment on Sunday, April 5, 2020. (Elizabeth Taylor/Instagram screengrab)

A resident of Haida Gwaii managed to film a cross-species meet-and-greet reminiscent of those being posted by aquariums and zoos that are closed due to COVID-19.

Queen Charlotte resident Elizabeth Taylor took to Instagram to share her April 5 video capture, of her cat Pip meeting a deer in the backyard of her apartment.

“So happy I had my camera handy for the moment a deer and my cat decided to tentatively become acquainted,” Taylor wrote in the post, which shows the two animals standing so close their noses could touch.

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Taylor told the Observer she was at home on the Sunday evening when she noticed the deer grazing close to her porch, shortly after 6 p.m.

“I hadn’t seen deer come that close in a while,” Taylor said. “She was after the new spring greens that were coming up.

“She kept walking, heading toward my yard and out of sight of my window, so I decided to follow, grabbing my camera. My cat always follows me like a dog if I head outside, and sure enough she came with.”

Taylor then sat down about six feet away from the deer, but Pip decided to go closer.

“Pip was immediately super interested in what the deer was up to,” she said. “The deer finally stopped grazing and noticed Pip, and you could see the curiosity they both shared.”

To Taylor’s surprise, she said the two animals stayed close to each other for about half an hour.

“I haven’t seen anything quite like that before,” she said. “Pip is super friendly with all animals and has tried to approach deer before, but this was the first one I’ve seen that was just as curious about her.”

It was “definitely the cutest thing [she’s] seen a while,” she added.

“Only on Haida Gwaii do you not even need to leave your backyard to see something like that,” she said. “Which is great during these times of quarantine.”

Aquariums and zoos across the continent have been posting similar, cross-species content in recent weeks, as a silver lining for COVID-19 closures.

On March 25, for example, the Vancouver Aquarium posted a Facebook video of penguins viewing the sea lion exhibit from the otherwise-empty corridor.

In the post, Vancouver Aquarium staff said the idea was inspired by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, which filmed its penguins visiting beluga whales — northern hemisphere animals that would likely never see a penguin otherwise.

Do you have something to add to this story or something else we should report on? Email:
karissa.gall@blackpress.ca.


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