Seeing a deer with a bag stuck to its head with no way to eat or drink, local resident Lorraine Dick knew she couldn’t just sit back and ignore the poor animal.
Dick rallied her South Ruckle neighbours on Sunday morning (Feb. 22) the best way she could—by posting a picture on the Boundary Neighbourhood Watch page on Facebook and asking for help.
“The first posting of the deer was actually Saturday night,” said Dick. “Everyone was laughing and going, ‘Oh, it’ll get it off.’ But Sunday morning it was still on and that’s when we decided we’d better do something.”
Dick said she was worried that the deer was unable to eat or drink and would eventually starve.
“The plastic bag was shoved on its head so tight it was like a bathing cap,” she said. “She’d already gone 12 hours with this thing. She could barely breathe but she obviously couldn’t drink. How long can any of us go without water?”
Dick said they tried to contact the conservation officer but couldn’t in touch with anyone. They were then trying to come up with ideas on how to get close enough to remove the bag.
“Colette Orr said, ‘My son can lasso it; let’s try,’” recalled Dick.
Once the group located the deer again, 14-year-old Aezia Orr managed to lasso the panicked ungulate and the group was finally able to take the seed bag off her head.
“He took a real honest-to-goodness lasso—they own a ranch up by the Boundary Museum—and he lassoed her,” said Dick. “Now, of course, she wasn’t happy with it.”
Freed from the bag, the group had to then remove the lasso, which was another challenge considering how rattled the animal was, said Dick. Once that was done “she took off like a shot; I imagine heading for the river for a drink of water,” said Dick.
“What really amazes me is how we were able to rally everyone together over a cause. That’s what I love about this town. We’re not apathetic.”
The story was picked up by national outlets CBC and the Huffington Post. Dick herself was interviewed by CBC.