Hidden within the redwoods above Watsonville, a shy and ghostly magnificence as soon as drew crowds however is now destined to reside, and die, alone.
The small white doe is the only survivor of a big and cherished herd of fallow deer created by famed writer William Randolph Hearst, gifted to cattle baron Henry Miller, purchased by Santa Clara County after which expanded by the addition of a smaller herd seized throughout a raid of an unlawful farm in Morgan Hill.
Now she is a mere oddity. The unique creature, residing out her closing years in consolation in a wooded pasture, represents the top of an period at Mount Madonna County Park that's now dedicated to defending wildlife that's native and pure, not bizarre.
“The technique is to maintain her wholesome and alive,” stated ranger Scott Christopher, who schedules the deer’s veterinary appointments and feeds her day by day with a flake of alfalfa and a half can of sweetened honey oats. Protected by a tall black chain hyperlink fence, “she appears cheerful and completely satisfied and prancing round, working.”
Named Penelope, the 10-year-old deer was born cream-colored however is now white, giving her a haunting look among the many park’s darkish forests. Fallow deer aren’t albino; somewhat, they’re “leucistic,” with darkish eyes and muzzle. A lot smaller than California’s native mule deer, fallow deer are an historic species believed to be associated to the extinct Irish elk. Like elk, their antlers aren’t pointed however are big and flat, within the form of a hand.
Her final companion, dubbed Large Boy, died of previous age final yr. Separated by a fence so that they wouldn’t breed, they might solely stare upon one another.
Fallow deer, native to the japanese Mediterranean, have been moved round by people because the Roman Empire, populating each continent besides Antarctica. Within the eleventh century, Normans launched them to medieval Britain, the place royalty stored them in massive herds on enclosed estates – typically known as deer parks – for viewing and looking. They represented energy and privilege.
The deer have been dropped at California by newspaper mogul Hearst, who within the Twenties dreamed of constructing the biggest non-public zoo in America at his sprawling 83,000-acre ranch in San Simeon, becoming a member of a menagerie of zebras, antelope, musk ox and different imported wildlife.
The deer flourished, overpopulating Hearst’s property. A pair was shipped to the hills above Gilroy, the summer season dwelling of Henry Miller, an formidable Gold Rush-era immigrant famed for increasing the West’s cattle and sheep business.
However after Miller’s dying in 1916, the ranch fell into disrepair. County supervisors organized for the acquisition of the primary piece of the park from Miller’s heirs in 1927. The deer, which had grown right into a herd, have been a part of the package deal.
“We inherited the deer. We didn’t have a alternative,” stated Christopher. “However we found out a option to make it profitable.”
The herd grew and grew, till as many as 70 animals roamed the pen. For years, they have been an enormous draw, awing guests with their ivory fur and regal antlers. Guests have been allowed to feed them carrots and different treats.
“They have been most likely the principle attraction for Mount Madonna. Individuals would come from throughout and produce their youngsters, particularly at Christmas time, to go see ‘the Santa deer.’ You needed to stand in line to rise up to the fence to see them,” recalled retired Santa Clara County sport warden Henry Coletto, who labored on the park in 1964 and have become a county conservation officer in 1967.
They have been nicely cared for, “as a result of they have been an actual attraction,” stated Coletto.
However within the Nineteen Seventies, with consideration fading and funding tight, “they weren’t taken care of and didn’t do very nicely,” he stated. As soon as, with out sufficient meals, they ate the bark of redwood timber “and simply laid down and died,” he recalled.
There have been different challenges.
Inbreeding started to have an effect on the herd’s well being, inflicting congenital coronary heart issues, in line with Dr. William Seales, the veterinarian liable for their care.
“In case you have been to run them round an excessive amount of, they might roll over and die,” he stated.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, somebody climbed into the pen and shot a number of animals. To guard them, park authorities needed to transfer the pen nearer to the park workplace, the place highway entry was locked at night time.
The herd rebounded in measurement. However in 2005, a mountain lion killed over two dozen.
“The cat was sensible sufficient to climb up a tree on the surface, bounce into the pen and kill a few deer at night time,” stated Coletto. “Then it jumped proper out of the pen, the identical method.”
When a tree fell on the fence, damaging it, six or seven animals escaped. To be recaptured, stated Seales, among the animals needed to be sedated with explosive darts stuffed with anesthesia.
Neither wild nor tame, the fallow deer couldn’t merely be launched to hitch the park’s native mule deer. Conservation biologists are more and more alarmed by the infiltration of launched animals, vegetation and microbes, which create ecological imbalance and infrequently crowd out native species. State regulation required that the deer keep in a pen.
“They’re non-native, so there are strict guidelines and rules,” stated Christopher. “They’re a managed species.”
To scale back the herd measurement, women and men have been separated to forestall breeding. The county additionally offered some deer to companies that wished a roadside attraction, comparable to Casa de Fruta in Hollister. However that grew to become a paperwork chore. Over time, the weaker deer have been simply culled.
Penelope and several other different does arrived about six or seven years in the past, shipped by authorities from a San Martin property that lacked correct permits for the deer, thought of a “restricted species” beneath California regulation.
California’s different scattered herds are additionally now largely gone. Fallow deer at Level Reyes Nationwide Seashore, bought from the San Francisco Zoo within the Forties and launched by a neighborhood landowner previous to the institution of the park, have been eradicated.
However Mendocino County’s Ridgewood Ranch continues to be dwelling to some descendants of animals introduced from the Hearst Ranch by Charles Howard, proprietor of the famed racehorse Seabiscuit, in 1949. The San Francisco Zoo stated it may look into accepting the Mount Madonna deer, if supplied.
In her pen, Penelope is wholesome and nicely cared for, stated Seales. She has no parasites and is disease-free.
She nonetheless will get guests however is not a star. She isn’t marketed in park brochures or different promotional supplies and lacks the spectacular antlers of a buck. She’s reclusive, hiding within the woods in the course of the day.
Nowadays, persons are extra typically drawn to the huge park for its wilderness — climbing, horseback driving, tenting or exploring trails for a glimpse of banana slugs, California newts, grey foxes or different native wildlife.
Penelope wanders her pen alone, with solely birds and squirrels for firm.
As soon as gone, she received’t get replaced, in line with Christopher.
“We’re not a zoo,” he stated.
