‘Poor animal.’ Deer with arrow piercing head spotted in Wisconsin park, video shows
_fitted.png "A Milwaukee, Wisconsin, man noticed an odd-looking deer at a park and saw that it has suffered a gruesome injury.")
A doe with an arrow through its head was recently spotted wandering in a Milwaukee park, Wisconsin video shows.
Collin Buth was on a morning bike ride at Whitnall Park when he saw some deer milling about in the woods, he said in a video posted on April 2.
One of those deer “looked a little weird,” Buth said, and as he moved closer it became clear why. An arrow could be seen sticking from its head.
“That poor animal,” he says.
The arrow appears to have been shot from behind.
When the doe turns to face the camera, the bright green fletching at the end of the shaft vanishes from view, and a fuller extent of the damage is revealed. The arrow’s pointed tip can be seen head-on, having gouged a hole through the left side of the deer’s face before it finally stopped.
“It’s definitely illegal to hunt in Milwaukee County,” Buth says in the video.
There are some designated areas for bow hunting with a permit in the county, but it is not allowed in the park where the doe was spotted, according to Patch. Poachers have been known to take shots at wildlife in Whitnall Park, state Conservation Warden Samuel Haferkorn told the outlet. Haferkorn’s office has received multiple reports of illegal hunting in that area over the last year, he said, adding that state officials are aware of the wounded deer.
It’s not clear if the deer was shot at Whitnall Park, or if it wandered in later on after a brush with death somewhere else.
Buth isn’t the first person to have seen the doe, officials told WDJT. Others have reported sightings to the Wisconsin Humane Society in recent months.
Gruesome as the injury may be, the deer has apparently carried on despite it and will probably continue to do so, Humane Society Vice-President Angela Speed told the TV station.
“The deer sounds to be very mobile and active. It’s a very odd situation as it sounds like a terrible injury at face value, but hasn’t seemed to impact the deer’s ability to survive,” Speed said.
People have asked the organization to take action, but Speed said their hands are more or less tied, WDJT reported.
“We’ve referred callers over the past few weeks to the DNR, as we do in most cases involving deer,” Speed said. “We are unable to treat deer in-field or intake adult deer for rehabilitation because of both resource and regulatory issues.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2022 at 4:38 PM with the headline "‘Poor animal.’ Deer with arrow piercing head spotted in Wisconsin park, video shows."