It’s not everyday someone is arrested for giving deer meth and training them to attack hunters. So, when the story popped up on Facebook Sunday, it spread like wildfire. There’s just one problem, it’s all fake. The story was posted on a satire account which has posted several fake, albeit funny, stories concerning wildlife in the Twin Lakes Area.
The story has resulted in an enormous number of phone calls to the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission and local game and fish enforcement officers. Captain Joseph Williams with the game and fish regional office in Calico Rock says he has answered a large number of calls about the deer story and about some of the other posts. Williams wants residents to know anything that is posted from the agency will be from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission with their newest logo. The satirical account is called “Arkansas Game Fish” and has an old agency logo.
The post from the fake account drew so much attention, the Associated Press picked up on it and wrote a story that has been used by media outlets around the world. As of Thursday afternoon, it has been shared over 119,000 times and has over 18,000 comments.
The post reads:
Bridgette Watkins, 43, of Summit, AR who allegedly took fawns into her home and raised the deer with the intentions of training them to attack hunters was taken into custody Friday.
At the time of the arrest Watkins was in possession of several grams of meth, four deer and many stolen broken electronics.
Attention was drawn to Watkins when she began giving meth to the young deer and they were caught rummaging through peoples garages and back porches.
A homeowner followed one of the deer back to Watkins residence in an attempt to recover his property, he found himself face to face with Watkins wearing only a duct tape bikini disassembling his clock radio.
The A.P. story says the woman’s booking photo is a woman arrested on drug charges in Indiana. The picture of the deer was taken when a deer broke into a home in Ontario, Canada.
Other stories they have posted on the satire page include a hippo that escaped from the Mountain Home Hippo Rehabilitation Center, a 14-foot hammerhead shark found at Panther Bay and the stocking of piranha in Crooked Creek.
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