While the celebrities got all dressed up this weekend for the Oscars, a pet deer has gone viral this month for dressing up like a fashion model.
Lily, a deer owned by Pip Kochel, can be seen in different outfits in a video posted on March 5 that has racked up over 600,000 views. The video is captioned, “POV: You bought a costume for Lily and now she’s a fashion model.” In the clip, Lily is dressed as a bee, a ladybug, a unicorn and a butterfly. She’s also dressed in green for St. Patrick’s Day and a special Easter outfit—and that’s just in the first 15 seconds of the 35-second long clip.
Lily can also be seen dressing up in later videos. She breaks out the bee suit again and dresses like some of her favorite TikTokkers, including @MaxTaylorLifts. In another video, Kochel shares Lily’s story, saying she was born on a hunting ranch before he adopted her.
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Kochel says in a TikTok from last week that as a kid he’d always wanted a deer for a pet, and now he has six. The video, which itself has also gone viral with over 100,000 views shows Kochel cuddling and playing with his deer, including letting them eat grapes while on the couch.
This isn’t the first time Kochel has gone viral. Last summer, Kochel edited a TikTok montage of another deer, Belle, frolicking in the snow. That clip was viewed over 10 million times.
Deer are wild animals, and thus, generally not the best pets. But it’s possible to keep them and take care of them. That said, different areas have different laws, so the first thing a potential deer owner should look into is whether or not they can legally own one.
It’s also worth noting that deer can be dangerous to humans, particularly male deer, according to the site Animal Wised. The site also says that when deer are confined, they are at greater risk of contracting chronic wasting disease or bovine tuberculosis, among other illnesses. Anyone considering taking a deer as a pet should have a large wooded area for them to roam.
Unlike some wild animals, deer can be tamed. However, a tame deer can never be released or even donated to a zoo, Animal Wised says. In addition, pet deer can become demanding, the site says.
A person who has deer as a pet should really be an expert in caring for the animals—not someone who just thinks they’re cute, though deer undeniably are.
