Iowa City Dumpster-Diver Bullied By Deer


Johnson: Former University of Iowa Philosophy Professor David Brumall called our offices yesterday claiming to have been "roughed up" and bullied by several deer. The award winning retired professor said he was going through a dumpster at a northern Iowa City apartment complex looking for redeemable bottles and cans when he was suddenly surrounded by four male deer, one of whom carried a pair of trash bags "slung across its back like saddle bags." The three other deer made threatening grunting noises at Brumall and then proceeded to shake their heads at him and paw the ground. Sensing danger, Brumall got out of the dumpster and began backing away when two of the deer charged him, biting him in the right arm and buttocks. Brumall fled from the parking lot to across the street. There he watched as two of the deer began picking cans and bottles out of the dumpster with their teeth and putting them in trash bags.

     "I know it's kinda hard to believe," says Brumall. "I didn't when I first saw it. I thought maybe something got into my trail mix, you know. But there they were. In fact, every stop I made the rest of the day, I found signs that they'd been there. Hardly any bottles or cans and lots of deer scat."

     The incident comes on the heels of an official deer population count made by the State Department of Natural Resources stating that there are 540 deer living in the Iowa City-Coralville area. Unless hunting or other predation is allowed within the city limits, the DNR estimates that the population of deer will double in two years. The consequences of this were graphically witnessed the morning of March 11 when a confused yearling male ran terrified through downtown Iowa City, made its way onto a city parking ramp and hurled itself over the edge to its death.

     All of this leaves Brumall very concerned. "There's gonna be a lot less for me to collect. I mean, since I quit teaching in the mid-80's to pursue an enlightened Maoist agrarian lifestyle as envisioned by Thomas Jefferson but unimpeded by vapid materialism, it's been tough going. But these damn deer, they can carry two to three hundred weight of cans! Where's that gonna leave me? Cripes, why can't they get jobs or something. Damn slackers!"





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