Plan B Forum

Radio caller slams deer for crossing roads



A woman's call to a radio station about the inconsiderate nature of deer has gone viral.

The female, only known as Donna, called Y94's The Morning Playhouse to complain about deer signs being placed near busy roads in North Dakota, after being involved in three car accidents involving the animals.

"My frustration is that Minnesota and North Dakota departments of transportation would allow these deer crossings to be in such high-traffic areas," she told the radio host.



"I mean I've even seen them on the interstate. Why are we encouraging deer to cross the interstate? I don't get it."

She continued to explain how she had sent letters to newspapers and TV stations to spread the message about the "irresponsible" signs, which encourage deer to cross the highway.

The host explained: "You know deer crossings aren't telling deer that it's safe to cross there. Just more of an alert for drivers so they know it's a high deer population."

However, Donna didn't appear to understand, replying: "They can direct their deer population anywhere they want to by moving that deer crossing sign. Why in the world would they place it on the highway or the interstate, you know? I mean, God.

"The deer crossing sign is there to tell deer that that's where they need to cross," she added.

"Right," the host responded.

Giving up on trying to explain how deer crossing signs work, they instead jokingly promised to spread the word of her cause.

The show broadcast a follow-up with Donna later in the week, telling her she had become famous after the clip was uploaded to YouTube.

Donna stated that she felt "incredibly stupid", and that she had "no clue" that the signs were meant for drivers.

"In my defence, I grew up in a really small North Dakota town," Donna said.

The clip has received over five million hits on YouTube so far.

Entertainment
Here’s Why We Think That ‘Donna The Deer Lady’ Radio Call You’ve Heard Is Likely a Setup

Last week, TheBlaze reported on a call to a radio station that went viral. It was woman named “Donna” saying deer crossing signs posed a risk to motorists, and officials should no longer encourage the deer to cross at these areas. Radio and TV outlets around the world played the call and brought attention to “Donna the Deer Lady.” There’s just one problem with the story: we think it was probably a setup — either by just the caller or by the radio station.

We’ve been researching ever since the initial recording hit the Internet, and we’ve discovered several things:

Late comic George Carlin used to tell a joke about the exact same topic. How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?

Snopes.com tracked the story back to 2011. Someone wrote to the site and asked about a letter that was rumored to have been printed in an Indiana newspaper:



Mr. Abbott’s letter was published in the Muster, Indiana Times in August of 2011.

Jay Leno’s writers picked up the story and read it on a “Tonight Show” segment that frequently covers funny or strange stories from small town newspapers.

Star Trek’s George Takei also posted the story on his Facebook page on June 4th of this year.

Almost a year after the letter appeared in the local Indiana paper, a follow up story was printed. Aside from reporting that Abbott’s car actually struck a deer very close to the sign discussed in the initial letter, the author admitted that his note had a light-hearted agenda:

“Really all I wanted was to get a little rise out of people.”

All of the above facts seem to point to a hoax. And yet the radio show, the Y94 Playhouse, is continuing to push Donna and her unfolding story on its audience:




Considering the number of hits to the original clip (over two million), the complete lack of specifics about Donna in the call (she never really mentions a town, a location, where she works, etc.), and the lack of a television interview with her leads this experienced journalist to suspect that this is a scam.

TheBlaze has requested confirmation of the existence of “Donna” from the Y94 Playhouse. If they provide verification, we will update the story.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/10 ... y-a-setup/