Andrea Arnold knows a lot about what goes on in the Village of McBride, a community of about 600 people in British Columbia’s Robson Valley. As a reporter for the Rocky Mountain Goat newspaper, she keeps track of wildfires, local sports, and pretty much anything happening in the picturesque mountain valley town that lies 125 miles east of Prince George. Nothing, however, prepared Arnold for what she saw while driving through town recently. “The vehicle in front of me had slowed right down, which is not abnormal because there are deer that cross the highway, but this one was wearing a high-vis jacket,” said Arnold. She managed to snap two photos before the animal walked away, but she still couldn’t process what she had seen. Joe Rich, who owns a towing business along the highway, said he saw the deer in the woods around the same time, but managed to take a closer look. The deer was clearly dressed in the jacket, with its legs placed through the sleeves. “It’s zipped right up,” he said. “Someone obviously had to tackle this thing and put the jacket on it. At first I thought maybe it got tangled up in it, but on second glance, that’s not the case,” said Rich. Arnold posted her photos to Facebook, hoping to get some answers, but so far has mostly gotten more speculation…….and a few jokes. Others speculated that someone wanted to protect the deer from getting hit by a vehicle. Rich warned that even though the deer seems unbothered at the moment, the jacket could cause problems down the line. “If it can’t shed its fur, it could develop disease.” However, Conservation Officer Eamon McArthur said that as long as the animal doesn’t seem to be stressed, the jacket is unlikely to cause it any harm. He did encourage people to keep an eye out for the deer and report any new sightings, especially if the deer seems to be distressed or in trouble. Arnold said there are people in town who sometimes provide food for deer, but to dress one would require someone to get the jacket around the wild animal's legs and zip it up — and she would like to learn how that happened. "I don't need to know the who," she said. "I just want to know how.”
