FAIR OAKS, Calif. (WHDH) — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is urging the public not to feed deer after one got tangled up in a hammock.
Multiple members of the Fair Oaks community had been feeding the deer, making him comfortable around homes and people, which increases the risk of entanglement in objects such as clotheslines and construction fences, according to the DFW.
In this particular instance, the deer got his antlers entangled in a backyard hammock.
“(He) had the tangled, multicolored mess wrapped around its antlers for weeks, eluding capture and attempts to remove it,” the DFW said.
Earlier in December, DFW Environmental Scientist David Mollel was able to tranquilize the deer and free his antlers from the hammock.
The antlers were cut off the deer prior to his release to reduce any temptation by poachers to kill him, the DFW said.
The buck’s antlers are expected to grow back in the spring as male deer shed and regrow their antlers every year.
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