Residents of Camellia Avenue in Troy had a pleasant surprise Tuesday afternoon when a young doe stopped by to visit.

Ann Marie Hussey was getting ready to pick her mother up for an appointment when her mother called and said she would be waiting on the sidewalk since a deer was on her neighbor’s front porch.

Sure enough, when Hussey picked up her mother, there stood a young doe peering into the front door of Eleanor Dozier’s house.

“I was surprised to see the deer on her porch,” said Hussey. “We had to get to the appointment though, and I felt sure that the deer would be gone when we returned.”

When Hussey and her mother returned an hour later, the deer was still there, gazing into the window of Dozier’s house.

“I didn’t want the deer to scare Mrs. Dozier, so I tried to call animal control, but we couldn’t get up with them,” Hussey said. “My husband and I decided that we needed to try to get the deer off of the porch. I also wanted to take a picture of her, because I knew no one would believe me.”

She said the deer almost posed for the picture.

“She didn’t spook at all, it was almost like she posed for me when I took the picture,” Hussey said. “I started to walk up on the porch in an effort to scare her off, and she turned and started walking straight towards me. I was a little bit afraid of what she might do, so I decided to knock on Mrs. Dozier’s side door and go through the front of the house to scare her off.”

Hussey said that when she came through the front door, she was shocked to see her husband petting the deer.

“I walked through Mrs. Dozier’s house and I opened the door, and there stood my husband, petting the deer,” Hussey said. “She let us all pet her. She was so sweet that she would eat apples out of our hand, and she drank four bowls of water. She also enjoyed a cookie that Mrs. Dozier gave her.”

Hussey said that spending time with the deer was one of the most amazing experiences she had ever lived through.

“I had never seen anything like it,” she said. “She was just so sweet and playful. She would pick her hoof up and put it on my shoe and just play with us. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever lived through.”

Mike McClelland, owner of McClelland’s Critters, was called to come pick up the doe. McClelland said he thought the doe was around six months old, and that she had probably been grazed by a car.

“She is about six months old and probably around 60 pounds, McClelland said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before, She is quite tame. We put her in the enclosure with the other deer, and she has adapted very well. She’s just doing great and is enjoying having some friends to play with.”

McClelland has named the deer “Autumn” and said that he was thrilled to be able to play a part in rescuing her.

“I’m just glad they called me to come get her, McClelland said. “She is a sweetheart who probably just got separated from her mother and grazed by a car. In all my years of owning a zoo I have never heard of a case like this. Autumn is a special girl and she will be safe and happy here.”