Ona men defends actions with deer

ONA, W.Va. — The Cabell County resident charged with keeping two deer in his mobile home is defending himself.

Ronnie Chapman told WSAZ-TV the deer would come as go as they please. He said he nursed the six-point deer back to health a few years ago after finding him “bleeding to death” in his front yard.

The DNR said there was clear evidence the deer were living in the mobile home near Ona, the older one, a six-point buck, probably for about two years.

“They had straw on the floor, feces all over the place. They had urinated in the straw. The straw was fermenting. It stunk to high-heaven. That’s not domesticating a wild animal. You can’t domesticate these animals,” DNR Police Sgt. Gary Amick told MetroNews.

The front part of his mobile home is more like a porch, Chapman said.

“If you leave the door open, my wife, they will follow her through. They’ll just come in and bum a piece of candy and they’re right back out the door,” Chapman said.

The DNR let the deer go, The spike buck took off into the woods but the six-pointer was still in Chapman’s yard Tuesday evening.

“I ain’t going to hurt him. He’ll come in rut one day and he’ll be gone. That’s the way I look at it. Nature is going to take its course,” Chapman said.

Chapman appeared in Cabell County Magistrate Court Tuesday and paid $300 in fines and court costs.