LOCKWOOD VALLEY : Man Sues Neighbor Over Deer Deaths

The owner of a Lockwood Valley-based company that provides animals for the entertainment industry has filed a lawsuit against a neighbor, claiming the man’s dogs killed three of his deer.

Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife filed the lawsuit Tuesday against William Lee Daniels, whose three dogs, the lawsuit contends, came onto Martin’s property Feb. 13, 1992, and killed two reindeer and one black-tail native deer.

Three other reindeer were injured in the incident, and Martin said he later had to have two of them euthanized.

According to the lawsuit, the dogs dug a hole on Martin’s property at 14466 Boy Scout Camp Road to get into a livestock pen where the deer were held. A Ventura County Sheriff’s Department report on the incident states that Martin shot and killed one of the dogs when he discovered them on his property, but the other two escaped.

The report states that Daniels, who also lived on Boy Scout Camp Road, identified the dead dog as his animal. He told deputies, according to the report, that his dogs had been kept on a chain, but that he had unchained them so his father could park a motor home next to his house.

Daniels could not be reached for comment.

Martin provides his animals for television and movie productions and special events.

The deer also were used in a harnessed reindeer team for holiday productions, the lawsuit states.