Halloween No Treat for Young Deer

CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich., Nov. 10 -- A plastic jack-o'-lantern meant for collecting Halloween candy is threatening the life of a small deer that frequently visits a gated community.

The fake pumpkin has been stuck on the animal's snout for at least six days. It appears to be snagged on the young buck's ears or horn buds, and it is keeping the animal from eating and possibly drinking.

Officials from a Grand Rapids zoo could not get close enough to the animal Friday to shoot it with a tranquilizer. They intended to try again Saturday. If successful, they plan to remove the jack-o'-lantern and take the animal somewhere to recover until it can be released into the wild.

"He seems to be doing pretty well," said Bert Vescolani, director of the John Ball Zoo. "I'm always amazed at how wildlife makes it sometimes, even under the hardest conditions."

But Wendy Swift, medical director of the Humane Society of Kent County, disagreed with that assessment, saying the animal was "debilitated and dehydrated." She warned that the deer might not survive being tranquilized.

The deer would have to be held until after the two-week hunting season -- which begins Wednesday -- because the anesthesia could be harmful to humans who would consume it, Swift said.