Oh deer! Manitoba RCMP officer rescues fawn that fell into frozen creek
'You could see he was just exhausted and didn't want to try anymore'
A Mountie in the regional municipality of Montcalm made a life-saving rescue Thursday morning involving a four-legged area resident.
Cpl. Pierre Demers from the Emerson RCMP detachment pulled a fawn out of a frozen creek near St. Jean Baptiste, about 70 kilometres south of Winnipeg, after it fell through the ice.
"The deer was lying down on the ice and was trying to get up but could not," he told CBC News, explaining one of its legs was through the ice.
Demers approached the fawn and checked its limbs to see if there were any breaks. He said it looked like the deer was cut by the ice, but aside from that was fine.
"You could see he was just exhausted and didn't want to try anymore," Demers said, explaining the deer's feet were sliding on the slippery ice.
"At first the deer was pretty hesitant there, just trying to kick and bite at me."
Lassoed the animal
He ran back to his truck and grabbed a strap with a loop at one end and basically lassoed the fawn. After the loop was around its neck, it tried to stand up again. Demers took the opportunity to grab hold of the fawn's leg.
"He still didn't like me being that close … at first, but then I guess he stopped trying to bite at me and kick me and just let me drag him," Demers said.
The Mountie pulled the roughly 27-kilogram deer out of the water and onto the ice.
"I dragged him probably 200 feet down where it was more levelled off and got him on the side of the ice where the field was and my partner stood by the river so that the deer wouldn't get up and go back on the river and he took off in the field," Demers said.
Watch Cpl. Demers pull the fawn to safety:
The officer said it was likely a life-or-death situation for the fawn, which could've easily frozen.
"The deer would probably been stuck there and probably die there. That's my thoughts," he said.
Demers normally doesn't fawn over deer. He looks at them a little differently.
"I'm an avid hunter myself, but if I can save a deer — and it was a fawn — I'll save it."