The deer is doing fine, thank you.
A young buck that swam his way into the Inner Harbor Friday morning was recovering at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore after being pulled from the drink by the Marine Animal Rescue Program of the National Aquarium.
“He?s in guarded condition,” Zoo vice president of marketing Kerry Graves said Friday afternoon. “He?s suffering from hypothermia and severe abrasions to all of his feet.”
The deer was spending the night in a dark padded room where he was given food by Zoo medical staff and sedated. Its three-point rack was removed by Zoo medical staff because of fear it would hurt himself when it comes out of sedation, Graves said.
When it fully recovers, the deer will be released into the wild.
The deer?s foray into the Inner Harbor apparently began sometime Thursday as severe thunderstorms moved across the region.
“With the storm being as bad as it was, it was hard to say how long the deer had been in there or where he came from,” said Baltimore Police Officer Lou Averella. “We knew that to save him. We had to act immediately, but carefully.”
Dozens of people lining the seawall cheered as rescuers pulled the deer from the water near the USS Constellation. One city sanitation worker, who was on scene during a cleanup of debris from Thursday’s storm, tried to lasso the deer, but failed when he fell into the Inner Harbor.
“We saw [the deer] and felt bad and were trying to do everything we could to help,” said city worker Steve Hale. “I even ended up having to pull a buddy out of the water after he slipped and fell in trying to lasso him out.”
After bring the deer to Pier Three outside of the National Aquarium, general curators administered the first round of sedatives and dried his fur using a blow dryer. They tied the deer?s feet and covered his head with a blanket before carrying him to the waiting ambulance for the ride to the Zoo.
“Teamwork! That’s how it?s done, teamwork,” said Gene Taylor, an Aquarium employee and ambulance driver.
Staff writer Kelly Carson contributed to this report.
