Community Corner

Oh Deer! An Unwanted Visitor!

Wild deer busts through window and roams through Castro Valley house before being chased out by homeowners.

A Castro Valley couple got a surprise visitor over the holiday weekend.

A wild deer busted through a glass window into the home of John and Loretta Starkweather about noon on Monday.

Loretta Starkweather said the couple was upstairs after having a late breakfast at their house on Camino Alta Mira off Redwood Road. That's when she heard breaking glass and scampering feet.

Find out what's happening in Castro Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

She went downstairs to see a broken window in the dining room and a deer frantically running around the adjacent family room.

"I went upstairs and told my husband there was a deer downstairs. Then I stayed upstairs," she said in an interview with Castro Valley Patch today.

Find out what's happening in Castro Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

John Starkweather ventured down the staircase to find the animal butting its head against a sliding glass door in an attempt to escape.

The retired contractor opened the front door, grabbed his camera from a nearby cabinet and quickly snapped some photos.

The deer bounded through the kitchen toward a storeroom and then back across the kitchen. He yelled at it and threw a couple pillows. The deer bolted through the open front door.

"I wasn't scared," John Starkweather said. "I never got closer than six or seven feet, though."

The Starkweathers said they see wild animals, including deer, around their home all the time. The deer, in particular, like the flowers in the front yard. However, this is the first time one has decided to come indoors.

The Starkweathers said the deer was in a neighbor's yard when it got scared by someone coming outside and jumped into their yard. The deer apparently felt trapped and leaped through what it thought was an opening to escape.

No one, including the deer, was hurt in yesterday's incident.

And the kitchen window was repaired by dinner time.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here