Video from the Massachusetts Environmental Police shows a deer swimming across the Cape Cod Canal late last week.
Police in a post on Facebook said officers came across the deer early Friday morning. In the video, police are seen slowly passing in a boat while the deer swims toward the shore and eventually climbs out of the water.
The deer, police joked, was “attempting to avoid the Cape traffic.”
“It’s a creative solution, but we certainly don’t recommend it!” police said.
Mass Audubon estimated there were roughly 100,000 deer living in Massachusetts as of 2022.
The National Park Service through its Cape Cod National Seashore Facebook page in 2022 said white-tailed deer like the one seen on Friday are abundant throughout the national seashore, which encompasses parts of the Outer Cape.
Deer are capable swimmers and have been spotted in waters around New England on numerous occasions.
Among sightings, video showed two deer swimming off Bourne on Cape Cod in 2021.
In 2020, deer was seen traveling five miles from Martha’s Vineyard to a beach in Falmouth.
In 2019, MBTA ferry passengers saw a deer swimming in Boston Harbor.
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