The Toronto Wildlife Centre rescued a deer last week after it fell into a 30-foot-deep tank filled with sewage at a wastewater facility.
In a video posted on YouTube, the centre says their team rushed to a municipal wastewater treatment facility in Pickering on Jan. 31 to carry out a “difficult emergency rescue.”
Video shows an adult male white-tailed deer trapped in the tank wet, dirty, and shivering.
The wildlife centre said the buck had exhausted all his energy trying to escape the deep waters but was able to get himself to a shallow overflow area. Unfortunately, they said the walls were too high for him to leap 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.
Together with two veterinarians, a vet technician and staff from the wastewater facility, teams were able 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 Wildlife Rescue Assistant Manager Sarrah.
Workers at the wastewater plant were then able to use materials at the facility to get down into the tank and lift the deer out with guidance from the wildlife rescuers.
After the buck was removed from the tank, the vets were able to assess it for any medical issues. It was then cleaned and dried and had several small wounds treated.
A short time later, the deer was brought to a safe habitat. Teams monitored from a distance as it woke up and eventually made its way back into a grassy, forested area.
