DUNDAS Oh, deer!

Shoppers were told to evacuate a University Plaza grocery store Monday morning after a deer wandered into the business.

The doe walked into the Metro store shortly after 9 a.m., most likely coming from the Hamilton-Brantford rail trail that runs behind the store.

It walked through two automatic doors, past grocery carts and into the store, much to the surprise of shoppers and Metro staff.

Veterinarian Shawn Middleton, who was called to help deal with the situation, speculates it was attracted to the front door because there are Christmas trees for sale outside.

"It was exciting," said the Dundas Animal Hospital vet, who was called to the scene along with her veterinarian colleague, Bruce Robinson.

"When I got there, I heard they were trying to shoo it out the door . I didn't think this was possible. There was quite the scene when we got there . They called because they knew we had access to a blow dart gun. They said there is a deer in the Metro store and they'd like us to come out and tranquilize it, if possible."

Staff from the store managed to corral the doe in an office behind the pharmacy section, which is at the front of the store, not far from the entrance and just past the line of checkouts.

Hamilton police, EMS and animal control were on the scene.

Middleton said he was worried the deer might be hurt, but found it was fine. He described it as being "calm, but quite scared" and said the doe had knocked over some chairs and shelves in the room. They entered the room and shot her with a tranquillizer dart.

After the deer had been subdued, it was placed in an Animal Control van and driven back to the rail trail. Middleton said they placed the animal on the ground and, after several minutes, it got up and scampered away.

A manager from the store referred calls to the company's head office in Montreal, but did offer the incident is "the talk of the store, customers and us."