The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism has released a conciliatory statement after wardens shot and killed a family's pet deer last month in western Kansas.

The 2-year-old mule deer had been taken in by a family in rural Ulysses and was allowed inside their home, as well as taken on walks with family members.  

Ron Kaufman of the KDWPT said in the statement that something had to be done about the illegal pet. 
 

The incident involving the seizure and death of a pet wild deer near Ulysses on Dec. 19, 2016 was a regrettable and emotional situation both for the Mcgaughey family and the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism officers involved, and we're sorry it ended as it did.
Having to euthanize any animal is a difficult decision and is not made lightly. State law clearly prohibits keeping wild animals as pets, and the responding officers, after exploring other available alternatives, believed that seizing and euthanizing the deer was the only option. Moving the deer was not an option because of the potential to infect other captive or wild deer with chronic wasting disease, which would be catastrophic.
This entire incident is under internal review. We will review and update our policies, procedures and training to better equip our officers to handle these types of situations in the future.