North Whidbey resident Maria Kiefer-Wiese wants to put an end to an inter-species love story in her backyard.

Kiefer-Wiese is known for a collection of exotic animals — which has included a zebra, a camel, African cervals and alpacas — that she keeps on her property. Her animals are well known by her neighbors for occasionally escaping, though reports of loose animals have decreased in recent years.

Kiefer-Wiese is currently searching for a European fallow deer that escaped from her fenced property nearly two years ago. She’s offering a $300 reward for anyone who can corral the animal.

According to Kiefer-Wiese, her other fallow deer, a female, has been lonely and taken up with a large, flightless bird.

“She took a shine to the emu,” Kiefer-Wiese said. “She follows the emu everywhere. They’re an odd couple, but it doesn’t seem right. The emu should be replaced by the male deer.”

Also, Kiefer-Wiese is worried that someone will take a shot at the partly tamed animal during hunting season.

The small, white deer has been seen in the Silver Lake area in recent months and has even earned a pet name from local residents.

“They call him Casper,” said Ralph Downes, an enforcement officer for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife on Whidbey. The deer is white, he explained, and elusive like a ghost.

Downes said he’s responded to complaints about the deer from people in the area, but the animal always hoofs it before he gets there.

“People have seen him roughhousing with horses,” he said. “He was growing antlers so they were worried about injuries to very expensive horses.”

If Kiefer-Wiese gets the deer back, she might not be able to keep it. Downes said he told her after she first got the fallow deer that she would have to get rid of them. Under state law, fallow deer are considered deleterious exotic wildlife because of their potential to spread disease or pests to native species.

After he ordered her to get rid of the deer, Downes said, the male deer escaped. He was unaware that the female deer continued to live on the property, he said.

“We’re not trying to be mean to her or anything, but the law is clear,” he said.

Kiefer-Wiese, however, argues that the deer are harmless. She questions how she could buy the deer out of a local newspaper if they are illegal.

In addition, she said she’ll take precautions to ensure that the deer doesn’t stray again. She claims she had both deer in a secure pen, but her mischievous camel named Rutherford opened the door.

“He’s full of shenanigans, that guy,” she said.

After the deer were out of the pen, a miniature donkey chased the male away. The female hung around and found love of the avian sort.

Anyone who catches the male fallow deer can contact Kiefer-Wiese at 675-0260.