In Minnesota, the Lake Minnetonka police department had to use a taser to subdue a deer before freeing it from an entanglement — two bucks got stuck together while sparring in the suburb of Minneapolis near Lake Minnetonka, with one of the deer dying before people intervened.
Once on the scene, police tazed the living buck and a neighbor hacked off the antlers with a reciprocating saw.
The deer groggily arose up a few seconds later, apparently not much worse for the traumatic experience. Deer grow a new set of antlers each year, so the damage isn’t permanent.
The police department posted the video in February. It is rare that two bucks fight so late in the year and months after the main rut. Bucks do sometimes rut a second time when females that were not impregnated in the fall go into heat later in the winter. By mid-February, some bucks will have already shed their antlers.
“Doesn’t happen every day that you would [taser] a deer,” Lt. Jackie Glaser told the Star Tribune. Indeed.
