A Heart Warming Deer Rescue
Small
Deer in the Au Sable River
On
Tuesday, January 05, while Ralph Schissler and Joseph Moskiewicz,
of Schissler Land Surveying, were driving to a job site, Joe
spotted a whitetail deer in the
AuSable
River
off Route 9N in the Town of
Jay
. They turned the
truck around to see if it was okay. The deer appeared to be
small and had long icicles hanging off its face.
It
was clear that the deer was getting pretty tired and close to
going under the ice. As
the Rescue Captain of the Jay Fire Department and EMT, Ralph
called the Jay Fire Chief and two other fire department members
that, within the past few years, had Technical Animal Rescue
training with the Saranac Fire Department. Jim Norman, Jay Fire
Department 2nd Asst Chief, came quick with his lasso.
Joe, Jim and Ralph ventured out onto the river ice while
Jim tried his hand with the lasso.
It took four tries before he successfully got the rope
over the deer’s head. With
that they pulled the deer out and up to the road.
They
called the local veterinarian to see if they wanted to help with
a very hypothermic deer. Elmbrook
Veterinarian Services opened their doors and with the help of
Sara Duensing, Dennis Perpetua, President of the Jay Fire
Department, Doug Sequin and Kelsey Benway, they went to work
re-warming the deer. When
they first checked, the deer’s temperature didn’t even
register on the thermometer indicating that it was well below 80°.
The
group looked after the deer for several hours.
Utilizing several warm blankets, space heaters, and IV
fluids, the deer’s temperature rose to 99°.
According to a local Wildlife Specialist, the deer’s
normal temperature is 104° and will get very active once the
body temperature gets above 100°.
With that information, the deer was moved outside to see
if it could stand and move.
The deer took a few steps, walked thru the yard, flipped
its tail up and bounded through the field.
Supervisor
Randy Douglas stated “On behalf of the Town of
Jay Town Board
, Employees and Elected Officials. “We sincerely congratulate
all involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of this young
deer.” He further stated “It is events like this that make
us so Proud to represent such good community minded people”
Thank You for
being there and for going the extra mile to save and preserve a
life!
