He must be one of Santa’s… Villagers come to the rescue of deer that manages to get stuck on a garage roof

FRANCE -- It looked like one of Santa's helpers arrived early to one French town but bizarrely ended up getting stuck on a roof leading to a dramatic rescue attempt.

Firefighters and police had to cordon off parts of the village of Verneuil-sur-Indre, in the Loire, France, after the large animal ended up on top of a building.

The sika deer - looking remarkably like one of Santa's reindeer - got stuck after apparently falling from a garden onto the garage three metres off the ground.

Homeowner Marie-Thérèse Decloux told La Nouvelle Republique: 'I heard a noise at around 5pm. I thought people were throwing out glass bottles.'

 Rescuers believed the deer had gone into a garden in a neighbouring house during the night which drops down onto the garage from a hill above.

But when it had fallen onto the garage it could not escape and get back to the garden because of the slippery tiles.

 

Mayor Philippe Bruneau said: 'We have used a breeder before who had a hypodermic gun to sedate the deer, but this time we did not have the right product.'

Eventually after over an hour rescuers were able to put a canvas on the roof to give the deer enough traction on the slippery tiles to allow it to climb back up to the garden above the garage.

(Daily Mail - Nov 8, 2013)