Deer taken; two charged
Suspects said they wanted to take pictures, police say
Two South Florida men are jailed in Key West and the three endangered Key deer they are accused of taking and injuring were released back to the wild, authorities said.
Tumani Anthony Younge, 23, with ties to Tamarac and Port St. Lucie, and Erik Yosmany Damas Acosta, 18, of Miami Gardens, were on their way to camp in the Florida Keys on Sunday and wanted to take pictures with the creatures, which were found tied, bleed- ing and distressed in the trunk and back seat of AHYUNDAI Sonata, according to a state investigation.
A little after 1 a.m., a Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy noticed a taillight was out on the Hyundai and stopped the southbound sedan on Little Torch Key, an island in the lower Keys.
The deputy found one deer in the trunk and two in the back seat. Thea nimals, about the size of a larged og, had been hog-tied with twine.
They had wounds on their heads and bodies and were struggling to get free. Blood had soaked into the Hyundai’s seat andwas smeared on the roof of the trunk, and deer hair was heavily scattered in both areas
of the car, according to arrest reports.
“It’s very possible the [deer] in the trunk kicked out the taillight,” said Officer Bobby Dube, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “Whether he did or not, I don’t know. But that’s what the deputy stopped him for.”
Photographs released by theFWCshowa large roll of twine in the back seat; Dube said a couple of loaves of breadwere also in the car.
Damas Acosta told investigators that he was responsible for taking the wildlife and that Younge was asleep and didn’t knowabout it.
The arrest reports said the deerwere struggling and making a lot of noise.
“There is no way the guy in the passenger seat didn’t know there were three deer in that vehicle,” Dube said.
Damas Acosta told investigators they were on Big PineKey, drove a bit offU.S.1 toward some homes, fed the deer to bring them close, grabbed them, tied them up andputthemin the car sohe could photograph them.
Key deer are endangered and are protected by state and federal laws. It is illegal to feed them. Habitat for the vegetarian mammals includes wetlands, hammocks and even residential neighborhoods, according to the FWC website. They live in a small section of the Keys, south of the seven-mile bridge, on islands from Big PineKey to SugarloafKey.
“They are a tourist attraction and people will drive down Key Deer Boulevard on Big Pine [Key] just to see them grazing by the side of the road,” Dube said. “And they’re in the neighborhood and all over Big Pine Key. People learn to live with them. It’s a mutual relationship, I guess you can say.”
He said the incident is the talk of theKeys.
“It’s their babies,” Dube said. “Everybody was buzzing about it. A lot of people take kindly to all of our critters in the Keys, whether it’s fish, lobster or ourKey deer.”
After the animals were rescued, an officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took hair and tissue samples for evidence and species identification, the FWCsaid.
“They were untied, given water, and they let them go,” Dube said.