Nov 9, 2007 11:56 pm US/Eastern
Wayward Wild Deer Jumps In Polar Bear Exhibit
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
A wayward deer jumped into the polar bear pool at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG aquarium and it was all caught on the zoo cam.
The deer jumped 20 feet into the pool from the roof of the exhibit. One of the bears immediately was intrigued and swam over, although zoo officials don't believe the bears necessarily had the intention of making a meal of the animal at this point.
"They were two young bears. They didn't know what to do with this deer who had landed in their pool and the deer that jumped in was an aggressive animal," Zoo Director Barbara Baker said.
The bears never got a chance to get close. When they approached it, the deer would buck and the bears would back off. But they did follow it once the deer got out of the water and all three animals took a dip in the exhibit's smaller waterfall pool.
The encounter lasted just three minutes.
"At this same time the keepers were running around trying to get the bears in the back into the backup areas and much to our surprise the deer followed the bears into the backup area and walked into one of the stalls and the deer went into another stall and everyone was locked down," Baker said.
Unfortunately, the Zoo says the deer was injured in the 20-foot jump from the roof and they had to euthanize it. During the incident, they turned off the zoo cam because they weren't sure what was going to happen and didn't want to frighten anyone.
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