In Mishawaka, Indiana a WSBT 22 News employee standing in the backyard of someone’s yard captured a video of a deer in the woods wearing a bright orange hunting vest.
The shocking discovery has had many media outs reporting about it and wondering why a deer had a hunting vest on in the first place. Department of Natural Resources Patrol Officer Matt Maher says the deer most likely has the vest on because it used to be someone’s pet.
“Obviously a deer grows at a pretty rapid rate, so within the scope of about six to nine months, the deer will become so large that it’s unmanageable,” Officer Maher told WSBT 22 News.
He believes the deer’s previous owner decided to release it back into the wild and put the vest on the deer to protect it. The strategy behind this is if a hunter saw the deer he’d be less inclined to shoot it because he’d most likely think it was someone’s pet.
Officials say that the deer has made its way into a herd and appears to be in good health, but they’re afraid the deer will outgrow the vest and it will begin restricting the deer’s movement. Like a chain wrapped around a tree, the tree will grow around it and the same effect would happen to the deer which is why the vest could cause harm to the deer.
“We definitely believe if the vest is not removed that it will cause a significant amount of trauma to the animal,” Officer Maher said.
The Department of Natural Resources told the news station that they are working with veterinarians around the area to locate and tranquilize the deer to remove the vest. In addition to that, people have been calling in to report that they have seen the deer which is giving experts a better idea of where to track it.