Deer leads police on downtown South Bend chase
More and more I here about deer coming in contact with what I call city life. We are slowly encroaching on their land and I call it their land because they were here first. I only hope that the deer and us can find a happy medium and coexist without them or us getting hurt.
By: Rick Kratzke
By DAVE STEPHENS
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND — Police had him cornered, the suspect panting and tired and probably unsure of his surroundings.
Trapped downtown behind the Diamond and Diamond Law Offices in the 400 block of Wayne Street, the young male – name and exact age unknown – might have been in search of a lawyer.
Instead, he did what came natural, He ran. Animal control officers, noose poles in hand, watched helplessly as the young male deer made his escape.
Where the deer came from, how he got downtown and where he was going Thursday afternoon is not known.
What was clear, by the dogged pursuit of officers, is that the deer was not wanted downtown.
Already he had been spotted near Century Center. He had paused, until pursued by officers, near the county courthouse.
He ran by the WSBT studios, where he was spotted by office staff, and soon a group of three women were in hot pursuit.
Later, as he bolted away from animal control officers and toward this group of onlookers, one of the women would curse and scurry for safety.
By the time he reached the 300 block of Jefferson Street about 1:15 p.m., the deer had gathered a following.
South Bend police dispatchers broadcast his every move. Animal control vehicles and squad cars scurried to set up a perimeter.
The deer – officers weren’t sure if it was a wild whitetail or a domesticated deer that had escaped from a farm – headed west along Western Avenue.
Officers stopped the deer again, this time in front of the Rabbi Albert Shulman apartment building. Police worried that it would run back across the busy road, but again it escaped.
“He’s headed eastbound,” came the call across the police scanner. “Toward the Cove.”
Near the baseball stadium, incoming animal control officers were able to box in and confine the animal.
A well-placed tranquilizer shot and the deer’s downtown adventure was over, 30 minutes after it began.
Animal control officers took the deer to their offices on Olive Street, where they set it in the outside fenced-in patio to sleep off the tranquilizer’s effects.
Animal control investigator Bob Baker said the deer was uninjured and doing fine at their shelter, but said he did not know the long-term plan for the deer.
“Right now, he’s just sleeping,” Baker said.
The deer was taken to a veterinary clinic for a checkup and animal control officials said the Indiana Department of Natural Resources most likely would take possession of the animal.
The deer was not available for comment.
nice
June 24th, 2009 at 4:14 pm