The fisherman thought it was a piece of driftwood at first, said Jimmy Pierce, Nags Head Animal Control officer. Lifeguards and bystanders took over the rescue wrapping the shivering deer in blankets and towels, he said.
Two teen boys stayed with the deer while it recovered. One cried when he thought the spotted deer might die, Pierce said. After about two hours, the animal stood, sniffed the people around him and began walking. Pierce and others used foam boards to help guide it off the beach before it bounded away.
“He had his tail in the air like he was healthy,” Pierce said.
Deer will swim in the ocean to rid themselves of parasites, he said. This deer may have gone in early before then been too spooked to come ashore as people gathered on the beach, he said.
Earlier this month, a Virginia Beach man fished a fawn out of the ocean off Hatteras. Tyler Balak, 33, was surfing when he saw something in the water. While some on the beach immediately thought they saw a shark, he initially thought it was driftwood.
As he got closer, he thought it might be a dog and then he was about 30 feet away when he realized it was a deer.
He said the doe was struggling to keep its head above water. As he hugged it, the fawn went limp.
The doe in his arms, Balak swam back to shore. He gave the deer to his friend, Audry Jones, who wrapped it in a towel.
The doe's rescuers took it to Hatteras Island Wildlife Rehabilitation, an animal rescue shelter 6 miles away in Frisco. A few hours after the deer arrived, it was sedated, taken back to Buxton and released.
(The Virginian-Pilot - Aug 26, 2015)
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