FREEHOLD, NJ (WCBS/CNN) - Brittney Benincasa’s pool is so inviting, it attracted a young deer. Last week, she saw the animal climbing out of the water.
“She shook off, she laid down in the shade. I just figured she’d fallen in and managed to find her way out,” Benincasa said.
Apparently, the deer squeezed through a gap in the fence to take a dip. So Benincasa opened all the gates to give the deer a way out. But Bambi, as the family calls her, just wanted to keep swimming and hanging out.
After the family called Animal Control, officers gently led the deer out of the pool area. But she kept coming back.
“She’s been coming since the beginning of last week, and she comes every day - late afternoon - to take a dip, cool off,” Benincasa said. “It’s a little crazy, but it’s cool. I mean, I’ve got three kids who love it, and we’re all animal lovers.”
The kids even leave tiny cherry tomatoes under a plant so Bambi will have some treats. And of course, they would love to keep her.
“People keep saying, ‘Can we adopt her? Can we keep her?’ It’s kind of like a distance pet,” she said.
Bambi is a well-trained pet who even takes advantage of the Jacuzzi area of the pool for a water massage.
“She hasn’t ripped the lining, and she’s been a good guest,” Benincasa said. “She knows how to get in, she knows how to get out. She kind of comes and goes.”
When the family uses the pool, Bambi runs away, but she always comes back. And they know sharing the pool won’t last forever, since the young deer will soon be too big to squeeze through the fence.
So far, the only day she has skipped her swim was Saturday, when it was pouring rain.
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