NC deputy rescues 2 deer from pool

In an unusual call for rescue, a Chatham County (N.C.) deputy saved two forest animals trapped in a challenging situation.

Perhaps the buck and doe were just going for a late-night dip, but once in the pair could not get out of a swimming pool in Bear Creek, about 40 miles southeast of Raleigh, leading to an hourlong rescue effort.

Around 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, Deputy John Lacy was called to a home to find the deer in the above-ground pool, which was about 6 feet deep, according to a news release. Lacy, part of the Animal Resource Center in the Sheriff ’s Office, had to think quickly.

He placed an aluminum ladder against one edge of the pool to create makeshift stairs to help the deer out. The buck used the ladder to lift himself out and promptly thanked Lacy by running off into the woods behind the house.

The doe was more hesitant.Lacy got a rope from his patrol car, lassoed it around her neck and gently guided her to the pool’s edge. Once free, the doe quietly lay beside the pool, then stood up and ran into the woods after the buck.

“You never know what you’re going to see or run into,” Lacy said in a release. “This was definitely one of the more unusual calls.”

This is peak activity season for white-tailed deer in North Carolina, when the animals fatten up for breeding, or “rut,” according to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

With more deer on the move, it’s also the time of year when the most deer-vehicle collisions occur, especially early in the morning and around sunset, The News & Observer has reported.