Alvin Ted Gustin had an unexpected guest for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Monday… a deer.
"He must have jumped over the fence into the yard sometime late Sunday night or early Monday morning,” Gustin said. “I heard a noise in the yard about 8:30 a.m. on Monday and looked out and there he was, with his ears sticking up from behind one of my plants.”
And there he stayed all day, munching on Gustin’s geraniums and azaleas and sipping from the bird bath. Neighbors from throughout the West Ridge neighborhood of Alexandria came by to watch Gustin’s guest through the glass doors.
“He would lie down and rest for a while and then get up and eat,” Gustin said. “He seemed perfectly happy.”
GUSTIN'S TOWNHOUSE is adjacent to John Adams Elementary School and the Dora Kelly Nature Preserve. The deer came from that area, jumped the fence into Gustin’s small back yard and was stuck. Alexandria animal control officers came to Gustin’s home and decided to leave the deer alone until night.
At around 6 p.m. Gustin’s neighbor returned home from work and gave her permission for Gustin and his neighbor, David Dexter, to enter her yard and open Gustin’s gate in hopes that the deer would return to the woods from where he came.
“I opened her gate that leads into the park and then opened Ted’s gate,” Dexter said. “The deer ran into the yard, started toward the road, found that that gate was closed and finally left the yard and went into the woods.”
The only thing that remained were piles of deer droppings and a ruined garden. Gustin was philosophical. “All God’s creatures get hungry,” he said. “I’m just glad he’s safely back where he belongs.”