3-legged buck wandered around with holiday lights stuck in antlers, Oregon photos show
A three-legged buck seen wandering around an Oregon city found itself wrapped in holiday lights.
And no, it was “not run over by a reindeer but got tangled up in lights while decking the halls like another buck recently,” the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a Monday, Dec. 19, tweet.
The deer named Tripod was found in southeast Dallas by residents with holiday lights stuck in its antlers.
Wildlife officers were able to sedate the deer in a backyard and remove the lights on Dec. 16, Michelle Dennehy, a spokesperson for the wildlife agency, told McClatchy News. The animal was tagged and released into the area.
Although it was missing a leg, officials said the buck was fully healed and “seems to get around OK.” It’s possible it was struck by a vehicle or got caught in a fence when it lost its leg, Dennehy said.
On Nov. 30, a different buck was seen in Dallas with a string of lights stuck in its antlers. It was darted, and the lights were removed.
In some cases, entanglements can become serious for deer because the animal could die, McClatchy News previously reported. It is also extremely stressful for the deer to frantically try freeing itself from whatever it may be wrapped in, wildlife officials said.
“There is a chance that the dangling lights could get caught on something else, such as a fence, and then the buck couldn’t escape. Occasionally, they can get a leg caught on the lights as well,” Dennehy said.
Officials advised the public to hang lights higher in trees so bucks can’t reach them. And to take down volleyball nets and hammocks if they aren’t in use because these objects can also get stuck in their antlers.
Dallas is about 15 miles west of Salem.
This story was originally published December 20, 2022 at 3:44 PM with the headline "3-legged buck wandered around with holiday lights stuck in antlers, Oregon photos show."
