Deer Tangled in Christmas Lights Tranquilized to Prevent Asphyxiation
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.03.12
It was probably the closest anybody has ever gotten to a real, live Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. The exception being that this deer was not a reindeer and its nose wasn’t red, but its entire neck and head a gleaming red, white, and green.
It’s unclear which home in Eugege, Oregon a deer pulled decorations from, but we’re sure the owners have realized that their brightly lit flora is missing an entire string of lights. The lights had begun to wrap tightly around the animal’s neck, at which point officials chose to act.
“If the lights had just been wrapped around the antlers, it wouldn’t have been a big deal because the bucks will shed their antlers in late winter so it would have lost the lights at that point,” Wildlife Biologist Brian Wolfer with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) told CBS. “But because it was wrapped around the deer’s neck it had the ability to restrict air flow or restrict the ability to eat or swallow.”
Fish and Wildlife biologists tranquilized the deer to untangle the buck from its conundrum. During the rut and the winter, the DFW advises people to not hang their lights low to the ground or around trees where bucks rub their antlers.
To find out more about the deer in head Christmas lights, view the video below to hear Wolfer’s words on the ordeal and see photographs of the operation.
