At about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, police got a call about a deer that was wedged in the "V" of a tree trunk on Otis Street, said Ashland police Chief Tighe O'Meara. Officer Bon Stewart freed the animal by using a hydraulic jack to widen the gap just enough for the deer to dislodge itself from the tree.
O'Meara said issues regarding animals in urban/rural interface areas often don't end so well for wildlife.
"It's a win in everybody's book," O'Meara said. “It ended well when it very often ends badly.”
On Nov. 29, an Ashland officer shot and killed a deer caught on a swinging chain-link fence gate near Bush Street. The frightened animal was injuring itself struggling to get free, O'Meara said.
“It was literally ripping itself apart,” O'Meara said.
O'Meara said it's common for police in urban/rural interface areas to euthanize animals that would otherwise suffer in the wild once released.
“Basically they’re [so badly injured they're] going to die anyway, so we just euthanize them,” O'Meara said.
Officers will euthanize an animal when it is suffering, O'Meara said, but if isn't a simple situation, police will often call in wildlife experts for assistance.
"We want to help if we can," O'Meara said.
(Mail Tribune - March 31, 2016)
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