Emme Thompson is a young girl that’s attending school in Halifax, and recently she had a rather interesting thing happen to her dog – Finn. Her dad was walking Finn on a trail near the Tunnel Island in Kenora. However, the trail happens to travels through a wooded area and that’s where Finn got himself in a situation – the dog chased a deer, got arrested and quickly became an internet celebrity.
“They thought they would let him off the leash a little bit to run around, and I guess he caught the scent of a deer, because he just all of a sudden took off into the bush and was gone,” Thompson said. “He wouldn’t listen to any calls or whistles.”
Mere moments later, the family got a call from Kenora OPP, informing them that Finn was in their custody. As it turns out, someone spotted Finn chasing a deer across a frozen lake in the woods and called the police.
“I think he caught up to [the deer], and they had a bit of a scuffle,” Thompson said. “But it seemed to get away when the cop was chasing after [Finn].”
“He’s a pretty small dog, so the deer could’ve easily taken him.”
As any other two-legged law-breaker, Finn was brought back home in the back of an OPP cruiser.
Emme quickly posted a photo on Twitter and as of noon Monday, April 16, the photo had around 2,500 comments, 155,000 retweets, and over half-a-million favorites.
The overall public response has been positive, according to Thompson, with most people being concerned about Finn’s well-being. Thompson said he is a bit “banged up” from the encounter, but he is well.
Deer are actually a problem in Kenora, as they tend to get into people’s yards in groups.
“We did get him [Finn] from up north, and I’m sure he was running with a pack of dogs there,” Emme said. “That may have been where he learned to chase deer.”
“We certainly don’t encourage it,” she said. “He just can’t really help himself sometimes.”
The OPP released Finn back to the family shortly after the incident and didn’t fine the family, even though there are laws against off-leash dogs chasing deer.
“We’re just hoping that the worst-case scenario is maybe we get a fine,” she said. “From now on, we’ll just have to keep him on the leash, but it is sort of sad that he can’t run around anymore.”
