Deer checks into rest home

Zurich
By KELLY PEDRO
The London Free Press

LONDON -- A rest home in Zurich got an unexpected visitor when a large buck smashed through a glass door and wandered the halls.

"Our apartments are really full -- we really don't need new tenants," joked Martha Craig, administrator of the Blue Water Rest Home.

The deer broke through the door, shattering glass and cutting itself, about 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

A tenant in the apartment side of the long-term care home heard a commotion, went out into the hallway and spotted the deer, said Craig.

"She quickly called the home and our night nurse responded after that," she said.

Staff called police and two Huron OPP officers responded.

When police arrived, they found the animal walking the hallways. They opened the doors, hoping the deer would leave on its own.

At one point, officers chased the deer down the hall towards the exit, hoping it would leave, but it charged at them.

The police, now dubbed "deer whisperers" around the office, changed their tact, coaxing the deer toward the door.

"I think he decided he better exit stage left," Const. Joanna Van Mierlo said of the deer.

Amazingly, said Craig, while police were trying to get the animal out, most of the tenants slept soundly.

While the story is unusual, it isn't completely bizarre when policing in rural Ontario.

"In 15 years this is the third one I'm aware of where a deer has broken a window and (got) inside a home," said Van Mierlo.

Police don't know whether the light in the hallway attracted the animal to the home.

Craig said the deer might have been spooked by a vehicle while trying to cross a busy highway in front of the home.

Even after the deer left, it was still heard trying to get back into the home, she said.

Either way, Craig's glad the deer is gone. No one was hurt.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2009/10/20/11459706-sun.html