Owner Tracey Stentiford pictured with Bambi and the family dog at their farm before police shot the deer A young deer named Bambi has been shot by police after it wandered into a garden.
The doe was killed over fears it could endanger motorists if it ran on to a nearby main road.
But officers were criticised by the woman who hand-reared the animal and named it after the Disney deer.
Tracey Stentiford said a tranquiliser dart should have been used or the road blockaded while attempts were made to restrain the two-year-old red deer.
Miss Stentiford found the animal when it was a baby and bottle-fed milk till it was old enough to fend for itself.
But Bambi refused to leave and became a permanent fixture around their farm in Shirwell, North Devon.
Earlier this month she trotted into the garden of a property in Pilton raising concerns she might run out on to a dual carriageway.
A member of North Devon Animal Ambulance charity was called who then called the police and a vet.
After a five-hour operation to try to restrain Bambi, a decision was eventually made to shoot her.
Mother-of-two Miss Stentiford said: 'We are devastated at what happened to Bambi and just feel that the easy option was taken when more should have been done to save her.
'I appreciate there were concerns about her getting on to the dual carriageway but why wasn't she tranquilised with a dart, or surely the police could have blockaded the road for a little while as it was a Sunday and there wouldn't have been too much traffic?'
The tragic tale bears more than a passing resemblance to Disney's 1942 film Bambi, after which the doe was namedDiana Lewis from the NDAA said: 'Sadly and with much regret it was decided on the grounds of public safety that the deer had to be put down as a tranquiliser dart could have taken up to six minutes to take effect and in that time she could have caused carnage if she had got on the main road.'
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said the doe was shot as a last resort.
A spokesman said: 'Having weighed up the potential dangers of what could have happened should the deer have got on the dual carriageway, this was seen as the only option.
'Destroying an animal in this way is done as humanely as possible and is very rare.'
Last month a bullock was shot dead after it escaped from an abattoir on to busy streets in Balsall Heath in Birmingham.
Roads were closed as the animal charged around the streets and a vet was called out, along with firearms police officers.
A West Midlands police spokesman said at the time: 'The vet's assessment was it would be too dangerous to tranquillize, due to the animal being unpredictable and it being a busy built-up area, so the decision was made to destroy the animal to ensure public safety.'
The bullock died instantly and the roads were reopened, she said
source: dailymail
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