What happened to Hank, the ‘local legend’ from Hollywood, WV? 

By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV

This week, you may have heard about Hank, the deer from Hollywood.

Not that Hollywood, where they make movies. The one in rural Monroe County, WV, where they make magic. 

Suzanne and Robert Huffman, like most folks in Monroe County, live on a farm. It’s not at all uncommon for them to encounter various forms of wildlife each day. 

Back about two years ago, they came across a fawn that had been abandoned. 

“We bottle fed him,” Suzanne remembers. “Then we put him back in the woods for 24 hours, hoping the mother would return. But she never did. So we rescued Hank.” 

Hank quickly became a “local legend.” He played with dogs, posed for pictures with kids, and fancied oatmeal cookies. 

“He usually stays in our area of Hollywood and Second Creek,” Suzanne shares. “Everybody knows Hank. Kids came by to take pictures with him all the time.”

He lost an antler somewhere along the way and wore a bright orange collar. He took naps in people’s flower beds and even went inside their homes to visit. 

“He went in one lady’s kitchen,” Suzanne recalls. “Dale Boggs sent us pictures of Hank in a water ditch with him one day when he was working. He just hung out there at the jobsite all day.”

Suzanne and Robert say they were surprised how smart Hank was. “You really wouldn’t think about him being able to interact with people like he did. Our neighbors all interacted with him. He loved people.” 

But one day earlier this week, Hank strayed from his rural Monroe County home and wound up near Kroger in neighboring Greenbrier County. Law enforcement was called to the scene, and Hank never made it home. 

Hank travels to Greenbrier County

On Monday, Suzanne started receiving text messages from friends and neighbors that Hank was in Greenbrier County. 

“Then we had someone tell us he was in the parking lot at Kroger,” she says. “My husband left the job site in White Sulphur and found him.” 

With the help of a friend, Suzanne says Robert was able to sedate Hank and planned to bring him home. 

She said a Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Deputy on the scene agreed with that plan. But before he was able to get Hank in his truck, the WV Department of Natural Resources (DNR) arrived. 

“They said we weren’t allowed to take him,” says Suzanne. “We were very cooperative with them. I can’t say that so much with them.”

After conversation, the Huffmans say DNR told them they had to surrender the animal for euthanasia because they were illegally keeping him as a pet and he had intimidated people in the vicinity of Kroger that afternoon. 

RealWV reached out the DNR for comment and were told the situation was under active investigation. 

We also reached out to the Greenbrier County Emergency 911 Center to see if there had been any calls from residents who were intimidated by Hank that afternoon. They have yet to reply.

Suzanne called DNR on Wednesday and says she was told Hank was euthanized. “They wouldn’t even let me bring him home to our farm to bury him,” she says behind tears. 

“He was such a sweet animal. So trusting and loving of people. That’s why he came to that area. He was looking for someone to help him. He was not hurting anyone. People were posting pics on Facebook. They were petting him in the parking lot. It didn’t have to end that way.”

While DNR has yet to reply, they did send information counseling citizens who find abandoned wildlife not to intervene. “We want people to enjoy the wildlife that West Virginia has to offer,” said Vinnie Johnson, a wildlife biologist for the WVDNR, “but we don’t want to interfere with the wildness of wildlife, so please leave young wildlife alone.”

State code does prohibit maintaining wildlife in an enclosure, an offense punishable by fine and jail time. 

“They (DNR) made us feel like we were complete criminals, it was bad,” Suzanne says of Monday’s events. “Isn’t there something more you could be doing with your authority? It was almost like a power trip.” 

‘We will never forget him’

While Suzanne, Robert, their family, and the extended community in Hollywood and Second Creek are devastated about the loss of their friend, Hank, they are also grateful for the time they shared together. 

“It was just amazing to know him and have him in our life ,” Suzanne says. “We’ll never forget him.”

“We run a greenhouse business and Hank ate a lot of my plants,” she adds. “He cut into my profit, but that’s ok. We’re just sad now.” 

Stay tuned to RealWV for updates on Hank’s story, as we await information from DNR and the county. We will post a follow-up story when our requests for information are returned.