Effort to Buck Law and Save 5 Deer Appears Successful

Five exotic deer condemned to death by strict state regulations won’t become venison, thanks to the persistent efforts of an Oak View woman.

Diana Frieling’s five-month effort to provide Oscar--a white stag--and four other deer with a new home is expected to be approved March 6 by the state Fish and Game Commission.

State regulations aimed at preventing the spread of disease required that the herd be killed rather than moved after the sale of a landmark Santa Paula Christmas tree farm last year. The deer could not stay at historic Faulkner Farms because its new owner, a state-run agricultural trust, said the animals didn’t fit into its program.

After months of unsuccessfully trying to negotiate the state bureaucracy, Frieling contacted The Times and the office of state Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo), asking for help.

Now the Fish and Game Department has recommended that the commission, a five-member appointed panel, grant Frieling a special shelter permit that will allow her to house the deer in a 1,600-square-foot pen at her home.

“Their biggest problem, from talking with them [the Fish and Game Department], is that I didn’t have any experience with deer,” Frieling said Wednesday. “But I didn’t have any experience with Fish and Game either, and I think the deer were easier to deal with.”

Frieling has spent more than $1,000 on her effort to save the deer and has collected more than 400 signatures on petitions she circulated at feed and pet food stores throughout Ventura County.

Bob Treanor, the commission’s executive director, said it is all but certain that the commission will approve the request.

“It is something a little bit out of the ordinary,” he said. But, “we try our best to be responsive state employees.”

Frieling hopes to move the deer from the small, muddy pen they now occupy as soon as the vote is taken. And she plans to write thank-you notes to the people who signed her petitions.

“I’m excited,” she said. “Thank you to everybody. . . . I thank them and so do Oscar and his group.”