man has died and his wife is in a critical condition after they were attacked by their pet deer in Victoria's northeast. Paul McDonald was feeding the deer on his property at Moyhu, south of Wangaratta, when it attacked, fatally wounding him and critically injuring his wife, Mandi. Police confirm they have euthanised the deer due to safety concerns. Image: News Corp Australia man has died and his wife is in a critical condition after they were attacked by their pet deer in Victoria's northeast. Paul McDonald was feeding the deer on his property at ... A man is dead and a woman has been left with horrific injuries after they were attacked by their pet deer in the north of Victoria on Wednesday. Paul McDonald, 47, was understood to have been feeding the deer, which he had kept for two years, at his property in Moyhu, near Wangaratta in the state's north east, about 8.20am when the animal attacked. Acting Senior Sergeant Paul Pursell told reporters that Mr McDonald entered an enclosure where he kept the deer — a cross between a red deer and an elk — this morning and was attacked. He said Mr McDonald’s wife, Mandi, and son heard the commotion and went to see what was going on. The son then left to get help, but when he returned, he found his mother had been attacked as well as his father. When police arrived, the deer was shot several times in order to protect a paramedic who was trying to save Mr McDonald. Despite the best efforts from paramedics, the man died at the scene from critical injuries. The woman suffered life-threatening upper-body and leg injuries and was treated by air ambulance. She has since been flown to Alfred Hospital in Melbourne in a critical condition. Mr Pursell said the family are “very traumatised” by what happened and locals in the small community are in shock. “It’s an absolute tragedy,” he said. “The family is just devastated. It’s beyond words how they’ve been affected by this incident today. “These are wild animals, whether they are out in the wild or kept as pets and their behaviour can be unpredictable.” The Party Games newsletter Get your political briefing from news.com.au's political editor Samantha Maiden. Sign up The Party Games newsletter Success! Check your inbox for details. See all newsletters Mr McDonald’s brother told 9News that Mrs McDonald’s rushed to help her husband but was also attacked by the deer. In 2013, Mr McDonald shared a picture of a family member feeding a deer on his Facebook page. “My boy,” the caption read, next to a smiling emoji. “If you shoot my deer, i will legit shoot you,” a family member commented on the post. “He’s my baby.” An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said the woman was in “quite a serious condition” when paramedics arrived. According to a 2017 state government report there are as many as one million feral deer in Victoria, with species increasingly found in urban areas. The government report also found deer are so well-established in the southern state it is now impossible to eradicate them. The only way forward is to control their spread. Deer numbers swelled after Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, culminating in many regional councils writing to the state government last year and begging for a cull. Licensed recreational hunters are allowed to shoot most deer species in Victoria due to their game classification. The Invasive Species Council of Australia mourned the horrific attack, calling for a cull. “Our biggest fears may have been realised, report just out that a Victorian man has been killed by a deer,” the council tweeted. “We need hard heads to tackle this growing problem, not hard hooves.” Victoria’s National Park Association has also been calling for a deer cull for years, comparing them to a more dangerous cane toad. In July 2018, the association warned “deer have largely taken over most of Victoria’s prime natural areas in recent years”. “They are trashing rainforest areas, mucking up our alpine region, chewing away at rare species in the Grampians — the list goes on. They are also impacting farms and creating havoc on our roads,” the association added. Association spokesman Philip Ingamells later told The Age the state government would have to kill at least 400,000 deer a year to get the problem under control. “They’re poised to take over the nation,” he said. The tragic attack comes days after a different Australian animal killed a person. A 75-year-old Florida man who was keeping a cassowary as a pet was killed by the giant bird last Friday. “My understanding is that the gentleman was in the vicinity of the bird and at some point fell. When he fell, he was attacked,” Deputy Chief Jeff Taylor told the Gainsville Sun. Police said the man was breeding cassowaries, that use their long claws to kill, when he fell over. Cassowaries are large, flightless birds that are native to Australia and New Guinea similar to emus that stand up to 1.8 metres tall and weigh up to 60 kilograms with black body feathers and bright blue heads and necks. The San Diego Zoo’s website calls cassowaries the world’s most dangerous bird with 10 centimetre, dagger-like claw on each foot. “The cassowary can slice open any predator or potential threat with a single swift kick. Powerful legs help the cassowary run up to 50km/h through the dense forest underbrush,” the website says.<doc-sep>Ethan was able save his mother from the animal by whacking the deer in the head with a slab of wood. At time of publication, the ABC reported she had been air lifted to a Melbourne hospital and was in critical condition. She suffered injuries to her upper body and legs.<doc-sep>A pet deer has attacked and killed a man and seriously injured his wife in Victoria's north-east. Key points: The man died from his injuries shortly after the attack The man died from his injuries shortly after the attack The woman was flown to Melbourne with serious upper body and leg injuries The woman was flown to Melbourne with serious upper body and leg injuries Police killed the pet stag at the scene Paul McDonald, 47, had gone out to feed the animal on the property at Moyhu, south of Wangaratta, when the deer attacked him about 8:20am. His wife, Mandi McDonald, was then attacked when she tried to help her husband. The ABC has been told the couple's teenage son hit the deer with a lump of wood to save his mother. The couple suffered critical injuries and Mr McDonald died a short time later. His wife was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne where she was in a critical condition on Wednesday night. Ambulance Victoria said she had suffered upper body and leg injuries. The deer was killed by police. ( Facebook 'Very traumatised' Acting Senior Sergeant Paul Pursell described it as an "absolute tragedy". He said a local ambulance officer treated the couple at the scene but the man's injuries were fatal. He said the family was "very traumatised". "The family are just devastated. There is a large family network and the [people] we've spoken to… it's beyond words how affected they are by this incident." The couple's son and daughter have travelled to Melbourne to be with their mother in hospital. "Moyhu is a small community … the people who are involved in the incident are well known to them, so what we're looking at putting in place are some opportunities for counselling for community members," Acting Senior Sergeant Pursell said. He said the deer was a cross between a red deer and an elk, known as a wapiti. The family had kept the stag for six years and it was the only deer living on the property, along with a small number of sheep. Local resident Patrice Larkin said she knew the couple well. "They'd come in the shop every second or third day. We had the Moyhu general store for 12-and-a-half years," she said. "When we heard, you just can't believe it. A deer. Their pet deer. You just can't believe it." Describing Mr McDonald, she said: "He's a bit of a character, you could have a good laugh with him, a bit of fun. "I can't even imagine when this all sinks in … we just happened to be behind the property near them and it was six ambulances, a helicopter, police. We didn't know what was happening." The family had kept the stag at their Moyhu property for six years. ( ABC News: Ashlee Aldridge Steve Garlick, the chairman of the deer management committee at the Australian Deer Association, said it was very unusual for a deer to kill a person. "Deer are much less likely to attack anyone than they are to run away from them," he said. "The majority of encounters most people will have with deer is with deer fleeing in the opposite direction." Police officers shot and killed the stag at the scene due to "concerns for the paramedic's safety on scene". Police will prepare a report for the coroner.<doc-sep>Local media said that the injured woman was helped from the deer's pen by her teenage son. The family had had the animal for about six years, it was reported.<doc-sep>
A 47-year-old man has died and his wife is fighting for life after they were attacked by their pet deer in north-east Victoria. Paul McDonald was feeding the deer at his property in Moyhu, near Wangaratta, about 8.20am today when the animal attacked. “At some point while he was in the enclosure he was attacked by the deer,” Acting Senior Sargent Paul Purcell said. Paul McDonald was killed by his deer in Moyhu, near Wangaratta. (Nine) Paul McDonald and his wife Mandy were attacked by their pet deer at their Moyhu property. (Nine) Mr McDonald’s wife, Mandi, 45, and their son rushed to provide assistance when they heard a noises. Mandi entered the enclosure and was also attacked before the couple’s son dragged her away from the family pet. Police confirmed officers shot the deer a number of times for the safety of the family and the attending paramedic. Mr McDonald died from his injuries at the scene while his wife was flown to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne with life-threatening injuries to her upper body and leg. A man has been killed by a near on a property in Victoria. (Nine) According to police the Waipiti deer – a cross between a red deer and an elk – had been a pet of the family for about 2 years. “I know the family are very traumatised about what has happened,” Purcell said. “These are wild animals, whether they are out in the wild or kept as pets and their behaviour can be unpredictable”