Dec. 24—WEST HARTFORD — Firefighters rescued a deer that initially looked like it had fallen through ice at Reservoir 6 off Albany Avenue Tuesday morning.
The call came in at about 9:15 a.m. from a citizen who reported the animal was partially through the ice, West Hartford Fire Chief Greg Priest said. Firefighters and a police animal control officer met with Metropolitan District police officers at the scene. Deer that fall through ice tend to succumb before they can be rescued, Priest said MDC officers told firefighters, but this deer was found to be alive, “very alert and reasonably close to shore.”
The town fire department is equipped and trained for ice rescue, so two firefighters donned water/ice rescue suits and crawled toward the deer, which was 50 to 100 yards offshore. As they neared the animal, they saw it was not through the ice, but could not stand up, Priest said. They fitted a line on the deer and hauled it back to shore. The buck struggled at first, but “it chilled out a little bit after it realized we weren’t there to hurt it,” Priest said.
The animal control officer found the deer was healthy enough to be released, and it took off into the woods. Priest said it may have been slipping around on the ice and become exhausted.
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“While ice rescue is not often performed, West Hartford Fire is pleased that we have this capability to offer our residents and visitors,” he said. “While the story today has a happy ending for the deer, we are glad that the incident did not involve a human or pet. Further, this situation presents the opportunity to remind the public about the dangers of walking on or allowing pets out onto ice, especially near where open water is visible.”
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