Internet fawns over Virginia boy, 4, who befriended baby deer

MASSANUTTEN, Va. — It’s an endearing photograph.

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A photograph of a 4-year-old Virginia boy smiling next to a baby deer has gone viral and has internet posters fawning over it.

Stephanie Brown, of Massanutten, said she was stunned when her son, Dominic Brown, came back from playing with the animal in tow.

“I couldn’t even tell you, I was in shock,” Stephanie Brown told WRIC. I was like, ‘No way. My mind is playing games with me.’”

As the Brown family was packing to leave their rental in Massanutten on Tuesday morning, Dominic was outside playing. Stephanie Brown said she heard her son’s footsteps on the porch as he cleaned off his boots, WWBT reported. She was not prepared to meet his new friend.

“I see him and the baby deer standing next to each other almost to come inside,” Brown told the television station. “I was completely shocked. I froze for a second because I literally didn’t know what to do.”

Quickly recovering her composure, Brown grabbed her cellphone to snap a photograph that she later posted on Facebook.

“After I got the picture I asked Dominic to walk his new friend back to the woods so his mommy could find him,” Brown told WWBT.

The boy, who had named the deer “Flash,” walked the deer back to the woods, the television station reported.

Cox Media Group