Key Deer of Big Pine Key

As a very young boy, aged 9, I was not only full of wonder about animals, I studied them, fully intending to become a zoologist. I collected fish, reptiles, amphibians from the wild, and kept them in aquariums and terrariums in our basement, about 20 containers in total, at a time when America was freer, and some laws against such practice weren't yet in place. I felt some qualm about my "animals in captivity," wondering if I should set them free and not do this, but I took notes on their behaviors and fully accepted the fact that elsewhere, credentialed researchers did much the same, which isn't to say I ever abused my creatures. I loved and cared well for them. At nine, I wanted to create original ethological theory, but although I had an understanding of abstraction at that young age before minds typically reach full abstract function at 14, I felt frustrated, devastated, at my failure to not only infer facts from observations I made about animal behavior in captivity, but organize them in theory.

No one consoled a mere nine-year-old in over his head. I spoke to nobody about this.

I read a great deal, and one of the animals I came upon in a book was the Key deer. Instead of remembering any facts about the species, besides a vague recollection perhaps about its diminutive size, I remember I romanticized its habitat, imagining lush wilds in the Keys tropics.

Well, here you see a little deer standing about two feet in front of me beside a picnic table. They're quite tame. It is illegal to feed or touch them. So we did neither. But obviously, plenty of people do. We encountered a six- or eight-point buck on the road, which refused to move out of the way of the car. I stopped, it came to my window, which I lowered, and as it put its head inside the car, I felt a very visceral connection to its animal presence. No matter the tameness. The creature was healthy and strong. Trish said, "Don't touch it!" I was tempted to.

They live on Big Pine and No Name Key, their habitat diminished compared to years before they were hunted when they lived on other islands, as well. Big Pine is a large island with plenty of wild, and although most of the deer seem to spend their time near residential front porches, we did take a hike on No Name back into forest and saw Key deer tracks in the sand back there, a comforting sight.