LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Where does a hungry deer go in the dead of winter to enjoy a hearty meal?
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Every day, up to 250 white-tailed deer in Maine head over to Brownville's Food Pantry for Deer, and thousands of adoring fans watch.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEER EATING)
FADEL: The deer feast...
MARTIN: Including us right now.
FADEL: Right? Yeah. Oh, my God.
MARTIN: They're so cute.
FADEL: They're really cute. They're having breakfast right now. The deer feast on 1,000 pounds of oats, apples and acorns in a trough filled up each winter morning by an Oatmobile.
RICHARD MCMAHON: Most of our winters in Maine are quite severe and they need all the help they can get. And we kind of provide that by giving them food and a safe place to hang out.
MARTIN: For 17 years, Richard McMahon has been running the Food Pantry for Deer with his son, Randy, and grandson, Ryan.
RICHARD MCMAHON: Back in the '50s and '60s, I grew up eating deer meat, and now it's time for me to pay back. Instead of eating them, I feed them.
MARTIN: It's not cheap. At first, the McMahons paid about $5,000 out of pocket each year to cover the supplies.
FADEL: But when hundreds of deer chow down every winter, costs add up. So, nearly 10 years ago, Randy McMahon set up a camera for watching the deer online.
RANDY MCMAHON: We started on Facebook and just to try to get some donations in from the public to try to help us cover these costs and it grew from there. Every year since we started getting donations, they've covered our operating costs a hundred percent.
MARTIN: The McMahons talk with local biologists to make sure what they're feeding the deer is good for them to eat. And they say fans online find a real benefit to watching.
RANDY MCMAHON: It just blows my mind how people watch this and it affects them physically. They feel better, their blood pressure's lower. Hospitals are playing it for patients. Everything about it - it just makes you feel good.
FADEL: I mean, it's true. I feel good looking at them right now, watching them.
MARTIN: (Laughter) I feel calmer.
FADEL: Yes.
MARTIN: Yeah.
FADEL: Viewers have joined the McMahons in doling out names for the deer. There's Vincent, the prince of the pantry, Lefty, a crowd favorite with a nick in his left ear, and Shaggy who has, well, shaggy fur.
RANDY MCMAHON: Somebody made a comment, like, Shaggy is definitely Kramer. I got a kick out of that 'cause that was fitting. I could see Shaggy being a Kramer of the crew.
MARTIN: And just like "Seinfeld"...
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN WOLFF'S "SEINFELD THEME")
MARTIN: ...The live stream is kind of a show about nothing, but one that's a hit. Find a live stream by searching for Brownville's Food Pantry for Deer.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN WOLFF'S "SEINFELD THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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