Call it a playground for Bambi and G-Men,where imaginary criminals are hunted and deer are the spectators. The 547-acre FBI Academy,where some of Americas best marksmen fire off more than 1 million bullets every month,happens to be one of the safest places for deer during hunting season. The property on the Marine Corps base in Quantico,Virginia,is home to some of the FBIs most elite forces and training programmes as well as a de facto wildlife refuge where deer,fox,wild turkeys,groundhogs and vultures roam fearless and free. In recent years,a black bear was spotted running across a parking lot,and a groundhog cornered an FBI agent coming out of the cafeteria,hoping to score some human food,FBI spokesman Kurt Crawford said. Turkey vultures are often seen perched atop the 5,00,000 square foot national crime lab where the FBI analyses evidence,including remains of former al-Qaeda leader in Iraq. The wild animals are as much a fixture at the academy as the hostage rescue team and criminal profilers. The most common furry friends on the sprawling campus some 48 km outside Washington are the deer,a regular at the shooting ranges,driving courses and physical training trails. On a December afternoon,deer grazed above one of the academys 16 practice shooting ranges. Nearby,shots popped loudly from a Colt M4 Carbine rifle,and the white-tailed deer did not flinch. Theyre pretty immune to the sound, said Sean Boyle,supervisory special agent bomb technician and principal firearms instructor for the Critical Incident Response Group based at the academy. Boyle said he doesnt recall an instance where a deer was shot accidentally. At the FBI Academy,the deer have even become part of the training in some of the driving courses,said Tim Moles,the supervisory special agent who oversees the Tactical and Emergency Vehicle Operations Centre,where recruits learn to avoid crashing their cars and conduct surveillance without being spotted. The deer are convenient when recruits learn to avoid collisions,Moles said. Theres times when it seems like theyre playing chicken with us, Moles said. Deer have been known to interrupt physical training,too. Weve had the deer walk across the middle of the track during the 300-metre sprint, said Susann Dreiling,unit chief of the academys physical training unit. During exercises,a mother and her fawns are often close by. They just stand there and watch as if theyre evaluating, Dreiling said,just like the instructors are.
