I received a phone call early this morning from my husband,Ed, saying there was a four-point buck outside of the Riverside Elementary School. Riverside School is located on Centre Avenue directly across from Charles Evans cemetery. Centre Avenue is also Rt. 61 which is heavily traveled. The cemetery is surrounded by a series of walls and green rails as seen here.
Apparently a small herd of deer have made this cemetery home for years. There are several entrances/exits to the cemetery. Herein lies the problem. Deer wonder out but have trouble getting back into it.
When I received Ed’s phone call, I thought here we go again ~ a repeat of what happened earlier this year when a deer was spotted in the heart of Reading. Crowds of people ending up chasing the deer leaving the deer so confused it didn’t know what to do. That deer crashed into doors and cars leaving it injured. He subsequently had to be euthanized.
Ed first called the police who said they don’t handle these situations with deer anymore. The only organization you are to call is the Game Commission as we learned today because of the last incident I just wrote about.
The deer was lying in that area for hours when discovered. Let me explain why my husband got involved. He works for the Reading School District and he receives all the calls when it deals with wildlife. He has been called to remove possums, squirrels, bats, birds, cats and the latest~ a raccoon from inside a classroom.
Ed and his co-workers, Danny Gring, Randy Becker and Jason Klein devised a plan to keep the deer from being spooked and head away from Centre Avenue at all costs as they waited for the Game Commission to show up. That’s where I enter the picture. I told Ed to get a picture so I can write about it. No one could get a picture so I ventured out to see this deer for myself.
As I turned onto Pike Street, Ed and Danny were sitting in a truck keeping pedestrians from walking the sidewalk in front of the deer. The pictures I had taken were done inside my truck. I didn’t want to spook the deer. I left leaving these men waiting for help.
About 10 minutes later, Ed called me and said the deer fled and jumped off a wall which was 14 feet high as seen here.
I turned around and drove back.When I saw this side of the wall , I couldn’t believe when Ed and Danny told me he ran away and he appeared fine. Look how high that wall is. But, the story doesn’t end there. As the four men watched the buck run down Front Street towards Dana Corporation, they noticed an antler was missing. They searched for it and found it in the grass.
As I arrived, the Game Commission called and was told the buck ran off. However, we were informed that we are not permitted to keep this velvet antler and must dispose of it which we have done (not before I took this photo).
When I left I decided to drive around to look for the deer but found nothing. I drove in that area for awhile. Where did that deer go?No one saw it again.
Thank God this deer didn’t run towards Centre Avenue where three lanes of 40 mph is constant and could have ended tragically not only for the deer but for an unsuspected driver.
Can anyone answer this question ~ the picture of the deer shows it doesn’t have hair on one third of his body including his back end, shoulders, neck and face ~ does anyone know what may be the cause of this?