Police officers in Rochester, New York euthanized a deer trapped on an icy river for more than 24 hours“because it was on unstable ice over moving water” and there was no safe way of reaching it to save it.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the local Rochester officials decided to humanely euthanize the animal “due to an increased threat to public safety,” Rochester First reported.
Reports were coming into the police station and fire department about people trying to get out onto the lake and save the deer, so authorities sent officers out to the site on Genesee River in Downtown Rochester to investigate.
When they arrived, no one was on the ice but there was at least one person there intending to save the deer. Officers evacuated everyone, blocked off the area, and called DEC to assess the situation again on what to do next.
That’s when DEC came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to humanely euthanize the deer so that nobody else will try to get out on the lake again and risk their lives trying to save the deer.
“DEC joined City of Rochester Police and Fire Department tonight in response to reports of a deer on the Genesee River just before the waterfalls,” Rochester First added.