The Toronto Wildlife Centre has released footage documenting its harrowing rescue of a deer last week after it fell into a 30-foot-deep sewage tank at a wastewater treatment facility in Pickering.
In a video posted to YouTube, officials from the centre describe how its team sprang into action on Jan. 31 for the “difficult emergency rescue.”
Footage shows an adult male white-tailed deer trapped in the tank. The buck is wet, dirty and shivering. The animal had spent all of his energy trying to escape the deep water, but was able to get to a shallow overflow area; however, officials said the walls were too high for the buck to jump out.
“One of the biggest fears was that the buck would panic and jump into one of the deep pools,” the wildlife centre said in the YouTube video.
Two veterinarians, a veterinary technician and staff from the wastewater facility teamed to “chemically immobilize” the nearly 200-pound deer.
“It was the calmest way we could get this animal out of the situation it was in,” said the rescue’s assistant manager Sarrah Castillo.
Wastewater plant workers used materials at the facility to descend into the tank and guide the deer out with help from wildlife rescuers.
Once the deer was out of the tank, vets assessed it for any medical issues before it was cleaned and dried. It was treated for several small wounds.
The deer was brought to a safe habitat and teams monitored from a distance as it woke up and eventually made its way back into a forested area.