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Deer unstuck by fake pumpkin
11/11/2006 09:37 - (SA)
Cascade Township, Michigan - A plastic jack-o'-lantern meant for collecting Halloween sweets is threatening the life of a small deer that frequently visits a gated community in the United States.
The fake pumpkin has been stuck on the animal's snout for several days. It appears to be snagged on the young buck's ears or horn buds.
The container, ironically resembling a feed bag, is keeping the animal from eating and possibly drinking.
Officials from a Grand Rapids zoo could not get close enough to the animal to shoot it with a tranquilliser on Friday. They planned to try again on Saturday.
If they see the deer, they hope to tranquillise it, remove the plastic jack-o'-lantern and take the animal somewhere to recover until it can be released back into the wild.
"He seems to be doing pretty well," said Bert Vescolani, director of the John Ball Zoo. "I'm always amazed at how wildlife makes it sometimes, even under the hardest conditions."
Anaesthetising the buck and taking him away carried some degree of risk, said Vescolani, but the creature would die of starvation and dehydration unless the plastic pumpkin was removed from his head.
He said the bucket also made it easier for hunters to see the animal when the state's hunting season began on Wednesday.
- AP
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