It’s not likely that Cascade Middle School seventh-grader Kevin Cox will have any more run-ins with a tame deer that chased and licked him Tuesday when the Bend student was in Redmond for a cross-country meet.

The deer, which gained national fame after chasing Kevin near the Dry Canyon, was tranquilized Friday morning and moved to the Three Sisters Wilderness Area. Reports of the deer spotted in and around Redmond began more than a month ago, and officials feared it had become too friendly, said Redmond Police Capt. Gary DeKorte.

”It’s extremely tame. People have been feeding it, and it has lost its fear of humans,” DeKorte said.

”The other day it was following a child around, on his bicycle, like a trained dog.”

John Fleshman, who lives west of the canyon in Redmond, said he and his family had seen the deer numerous times in recent weeks, roaming through his neighborhood, and they knew the deer was tame enough to walk up and pet.

”It’s way too friendly,” he said.

With the help of a veterinarian from the Terrebonne Veterinary Clinic and an employee of the Humane Society of Redmond, the deer was tranquilized and loaded into a horse trailer Friday after being cornered on John Tuck Elementary School property in Redmond, DeKorte said.

Once inside the trailer, the veterinarian gave the deer an antidote to the tranquilizer before releasing it in the wilderness area.

Dennis Oliphant, who was somewhat responsible for the deer’s publicity, said he was glad the deer had been moved to a safe location.

Oliphant, who owns Sun Country Tours, took a series of photos of the deer chasing and eventually climbing on top of Kevin Cox at the cross-country meet, where six different middle schools competed. In the photos, seen at right, Kevin is seen first posing with the deer, then running from the deer and finally ducking his head as the deer placed both front legs on Kevin’s shoulders and licked his back.

”I was watching my daughter’s race, cheering her on, and over my shoulder I noticed this deer chasing this kid around this big open expanse of area,” Oliphant said. kid was not getting away; the deer was in hot pursuit.”

When he got home that night, Oliphant said he e-mailed the series of photos to a handful of friends for laughs.

About 12 hours later he was contacted by National Public Radio representatives in Washington, D.C., saying they were interested in the story. Since the story aired Thursday on NPR, Oliphant said he has received calls from members of the media in Tampa, Fla.; Tucson, Ariz.; Seattle and San Francisco.

Cascade Middle School Vice Principal Paul Dean said the school, too, has been bombarded with calls from local and regional television news stations requesting interviews with Kevin.

So far, he said, the student has been good-natured about the attention.

”Kevin has been great. He spoke with NPR and another radio station yesterday and two more newsmen today,” Dean said Friday. ”After that I had to call a halt to it and ask them to go directly to (his) dad. We were doing it during lunch time and at moments when it was not impacting his school day.”

Kevin and his parents could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Since the incident, Dean said he has heard several reports about the deer’s interactions with people in Redmond. Overall, he said, the deer was too comfortable around people and it is probably for the best it has been moved out of the city.

”Kevin doesn’t need to look over his shoulder when he walks home from school anymore,” Dean said with a laugh.

For his part, DeKorte said he hopes the story will remind people that deer are wild animals that should not be fed.