Bambi, roe deer, Moss, Norway – A beautiful visitor in my garden!

Photo. A roe deer searching for food in my garden, Moss, Norway. © Travel Explorations.

I woke up 7.30 o`clock in the morning on Sunday 20 February 2011. It was -17.5 degrees outside just before the sun started to warm up. Suddenly my wife Sirpa observed a nice guest behind our house. It was a Bambi! It stood around 10 metres from us and we could easily watch the hungry male Bambi eating from the trees. As far we stood inside our house, the bambi wasn`t frightened away. Sometimes it looked directly at us without running away. This Bambi spend most of the day walking behind my house eager to find food.

Normally bambies will run away when they hear something, or if you get to close. But on this occasion, I just observed it  through the windows of my house, and so the roe deer could continue to enjoy his breakfast. I have seen roe deers in my garden get scared many times without doing anything special. In the beginning they look paralysed, and so they start to jump, zikk zakk, in a high speed. In few seconds they are gone, totally vanished.

I and my family used to see three bambies walking around our house after we moved in for 2.5 year ago. One of them was a calf. Unfortunately we haven`t seen them for many months. In the summers I suspect them for eating my wife`s flowers outside. Their favourite delicatessen is tulipan flowers. Sometimes in the night I can hear them walking on our stairs and veranda outside.

The roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, is the smallest of the deer species in Norway. Mosseskogen, Moss Forest, is home to many species of wild animals, small and big. None of the animals there are dangerous to people, except maybe the elk (moose) in special situations. We can safely walk around in the dense pristine forest without being afraid of wild animals. Roe deer belongs to the deer family. The males have antlers. An adult roe deer is between 64 and 89 cm tall at the shoulder and only weighs between 17 and 23 kg. Roe deer are herbivores.

My fascination for bambis is inspired from the movie Bambi, released in 1942. It`s an American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten. The main characters are Bambi, a white-tailed deer. His father is called the Great Prince of the forest and his mother is unnamed, and he has many animal friends. The scene where Bambi's mother dies make a strong impact of children who watch it: Also adults get affected by this.

Photo. The male Bambi starring at me and my family standing inside our housin the front of a window in our house. Here the Bambi stood just 10 metres from us. © Travel Explorations.

Roe deer are innocent, peacefull, shy, suspicious, and beautiful animals worthy lots of respect. It's hard to imagine how anyone could hurt them. The former Beatle Paul McCartney has credited the shooting death of Bambi's mother for his initial interest in animal rights, an example of what has been called the Bambi effect (source: Wikipedia).

Unfortunately roe deer have been chased by dogs in the forest and that stresses bambies very much.  Some of the dog owners let their dogs run around without a rope.

One of my neighbors felled and got injured after he become dragged by his big dog into a small river when the dog started to chase a Bambi, but because he used a rope he could control his dog.

Even though bambies eat flower and plants in the gardens in the summertime, they are very popular among local people. Many people in the Moss region are used to get Bambi visitors in their garden. They can come very close to the houses, especially when they are very hungry. On the last page of the local newspaper Moss Avis the photo of today are often of bambies.

Photo. Me and my family admire the roe deer through a window in our house. © Travel Explorations.

So far, this winter in Moss-region has been cold, snowy and tough for the bambies. It has made it far more difficult for the roe deers to survive without help from humans. Previous year was especially hard for the roe deers.

To help the roe deers, people in the neighborhood lay out food for them in more than one place, otherwise the roe deers will be taken by lynx. The bambis eat food as leaves, herbs, berrries, grass, crops, cabbage and bread. Some people feed them also with bird seed and grass, which they lay out in the forest. Now that there is so much snow and ice, the roe deers rely on people feeding them. Otherwise, the weakest will die. There are some few feeding places in the forest near my house so the bambies shouldn`t starve. I hope the best for these beautiful creatures. They do not harm anyone, just my wife`s flowers and plants.

Stein Morten Lund, 22 February 2011

Additional information
The largest animal in Norway is the Elk. The male of the species can weigh over 800 kg and have a shoulder height of 2 meters. In the hunting season many of these animals are killed and the meat is considered as delicatessen by many people. Hunting is one of the favourite pastimes here in autumn, which is the hunting season, but it is still not allowed to hunt the Brown Bear.

The Norwegian national newspaper Aftenposten, reported 26th February 2011 that the King of the Forest, the elk, has been shot at Majorstua in the capital Oslo by workers from the municipality. The elk had been walking around several places in the city center before it ended up there. 

It`s not the first time this winter that a elk take a trip into the city center and in the last two weeks five elks has been shot.

Read more about wild life on our global travelguide: www.TravelExplorations.com