LEWISTON — In this version of “The Yearling,” the deer lives.
A pair of animal control officers on Monday rescued a doe from a retaining pond at Lewiston’s Solid Waste Facility at 424 River Road.
How long the deer had been splashing around in the cold water was anybody’s guess. The facility isn’t manned over the weekend, so the doe was not discovered until workers arrived on Monday.
“She got through the fence somehow,” Lewiston Animal Control Officer Wendell Strout said. “She went into the water and she couldn’t get back out. She couldn’t get any kind of traction on the hard plastic liner.”
Strout was joined by Animal Damage Control Officer Rich Burton at the pond, and the pair devised a scheme to pluck the deer from the water.
“I lassoed it,” Burton said, “and we wrestled her into a crate.”
The deer was hypothermic by the time she was pulled from the water, the officers said. She was wrapped in a blanket and turned over to Maine Game Warden Dave Chabot for further treatment.
“They’re going to try to warm her up slowly,” Strout said.
According to the officers, it was the first time they’d been called to the retaining pond to rescue a deer. Later in the day, both men were awaiting updates on the yearling’s condition.
“Hope the little girl makes it,” Burton said.
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