KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s being viewed by animal lovers as the death of a celebrity.
Residents on Kansas City’s east side remember Ella the Deer, and the animal’s befriending of a stray dog last year.
Now, those same people want to know why Ella was found dead.
“She wasn’t hurting anybody. She was good for the cemetery,” Nancy Elder, Elmwood Cemetery Trustee, said.
She’s among the people who are grieving the loss of a friend — one who wasn’t a person, but who they say was very human. It was Sunday afternoon, when a security guard paroling the grounds at the cemetery in east Kansas City discovered Ella’s remains.
Cemetery board members say Ella was found shot and left to die. Ella had been born inside the 43-acre graveyard two years ago, and was known for being fond of people.
“She’s stayed around here ever since, I think because she was born here,” Cemetery trustee Bruce Mathews said. “This was the only home she ever knew. She felt safe here.”
Mathews said Ella would often look inside chapel windows and doors anytime a funeral or wedding would take place, as if the people inside were her friends.
“Ella became a friend to everyone who came to Elmwood,” Elder said. “When we had a burial or a gathering of any kind, she usually made herself a part of it.”
“We’d say, ‘that’s Ella. She’s part of our family.’
Ella made headlines during the past year, after befriending a stray dog. The golden Labrador was later adopted by a family.
“Ella was a wild animal,” Matthews said. “She wasn’t a pet, but she was family. She impacted the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people who come to this cemetery.”
To these people, Ella was more than a deer. She had lived her entire life inside the walls of Elmwood Cemetery, and through her own natural tranquility, she brought peace and comfort to people who were here to say goodbye to their own.
“You can’t try to figure out something like this,” Mathews said. “It makes no sense. It was an act by someone with a hard heart and a confused mind.”
Kansas City police are investigating the shooting. Jenni Rinas with Wayside Waifs say Ella’s remains have been cremated, and returned to Elmwood Cemetery.
