SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Hidden in the redwoods above Watsonville, California, a shy and ghostly beauty once drew crowds but is now destined to live, and die, alone.
The small white doe is the sole survivor of a large and cherished herd of fallow deer created by famed publisher William Randolph Hearst, gifted to cattle baron Henry Miller, bought by Santa Clara County and then expanded by the addition of a smaller herd seized during a raid of an illegal farm in Morgan Hill.
Now she is a mere oddity. The exotic creature, living out her final years in comfort in a wooded pasture, represents the end of an era at Mount Madonna County Park that is now committed to protecting wildlife that is native and natural, not weird.
