Axis deer
Axis deer
A state game warden says the deer that killed a Sunset man last week was not wild it was the man's pet.

50-year-old Sean Talley was found lying inside a pen March 12 with several punctures to his abdomen.

Montague County game warden Chase McAninch says it was an axis buck that attacked Talley.

Axis deer are classified as an exotic animal by the Texas Parks and Wildlife so they are not native or wild.

McAninch says normally you'll spot these deer behind a fence on someone's private property.

He added they are normally not considered aggressive, but like any animal, hormones can play a factor in any animal snapping.

"It is still a wild animal even when they're bottle-fed," McAninch said. "In this instance you're dealing with an animal that's basically going into rut so you're dealing with a lot of hormones. That's basically what happened. This animal got very aggressive and attacked the victim."

McAninch says animal attack's are not unusual but situations where an animal attack leads to death is unusual.

The deer was euthanized for the safety of the public.