A stray deer was tranquilized and removed from campus at just before 1 p.m. Nov. 29 after breaking through two windows in Carleton’s Herzberg Building.
The animal will be tagged to prevent it from being hunted, monitored and released onto Crown land, said Christine Hartig from Ottawa’s Bylaw and Regulatory Services.
“It had quite a morning,” she said, confirming the deer was the same one that fell through the ice in Dow’s Lake this morning.
Campus safety investigate how the deer entered and exited Herzberg. (Photo: Adam Dietrich)
The deer, injured from running through the two windows, ran into a tunnel in Unicentre loading dock, said Allan Burns, Carleton’s director of university safety. The first calls about the animal came in just before 10 a.m.
Ottawa bylaw officers came to campus to contain the animal by 10:45 a.m., confirmed Ottawa Police Service Const. Katherine Larouche.
It was cornered by three Ottawa bylaw officers and three campus safety officers in the loading dock.
Blood on the glass where the deer exited Herzberg. (Photo: Adam Dietrich)
Using three segments of fencing, the six officers blocked off a ramp on the Tory Building side of the loading dock to calm the animal down so it could be tranquilized and removed, confirmed Hartig.
“The initial part, when we were first setting up there, the deer was staying in the area,” said Burns. “It was quite nervous, but it was starting to calm down a bit. They eventually brought in some stuff to restrain it in there. Then the city came with their contractor to tranquilize it.”
The animal began its journey on Dow’s Lake this morning, Hartig said.
Deer blood on the asphalt outside Herzberg. (Photo: Adam Dietrich)
Once on campus, it went through the quad before crashing through the Herzberg windows, said Burns.
It left a trail of blood through a hallway before exiting through another window. More blood was spilled on the window’s broken glass.
“It then ran over towards the Unicentre,” he added. “It crashed into a few windows there without breaking anything.”
A Unico employee walks past the hole in the glass where the deer entered Herzberg Labs. (Photo: Adam Dietrich)
A trail of hoof prints and blood in the snow led to a glass door on the first floor of Herzberg, where blood was smeared on the exterior of the door located next to the Steacie Building.
“It got spooked in the area between Steacie and the Unicentre,” said Burns. “ It was in an area in there until it got spooked again when it ran into the tunnel in the maintenance area, where it ended up cornered in a loading dock in there.”
Burns said he is unsure why the deer was on campus, but they have been known to wander into the city.
“It’s amazing how deep they can get into the urban area,” he said.