Deer Herd Panics in Minnesota Town, Smashing into Mall, Bus Stops and More
OutdoorHub Reporters 05.14.12
If there’s one alternative to hunting deer for dinner, it’s hitting a deer with your car. One driver took home an extra meal after he accidentally hit one of eight disoriented deer that were running amok in downtown Moorhead, Minnesota.
At least two of the lost deer died after panicking and running into a van, a shopping mall, windows, doors, a bus stop and other unfortunate encounters on May 12. In an interview with WDAY 6 News, Moorhead Police Officer Josh Schroder said, “this is one of the most interesting things I have seen since I have been up here and I have been up here for 7 years.”
In a chaotic scene, Schroder witnessed about six disoriented deer running across a bank parking lot toward a mall and surrounding stores. Some were charging at the mall’s wall-size windows. One smashed into the window so hard that witnesses on the other side of the mall heard the commotion. That deer ended up dying.
Moorhead Center Mall Custodian Jim Honek heard the shattering of glass from the courtyard in the back of the mall. In the seven years that he has worked at the mall, he has only seen one other deer near the mall.
Schroder said one deer started running toward him. He moved out of the way and the deer smashed into a bus-stop shelter. The deer tried to get up but Schroder held it down so that it wouldn’t run into anything else, but got away and ended up hitting the van.
The driver of the van took the deer home for dinner that night, while the other deer was taken to the zoo to be fed to the wolves.
Read more about the incident and see a video detailing the damage done on WDAY 6’s website.
