wow, that is seriously messed up. tame deer beheaded

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only read if you have the stomach for it

 

 

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6132449.html

 

Houston park visitors, workers mourn decapitated deer

Authorities are still looking for his killer

By JENNIFER LATSON

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Nov. 25, 2008, 11:25PM

1 2

 

Handout from Constable Precinct 5 office

Officials said the deer, named Mr. Buck, was a favorite of schoolchildren at

Bear Creek Pioneers Park.

 

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Mr. Buck was a gentle old soul, the joy of visiting schoolchildren, and so tame

that you could walk right up and scratch his chin through the fence.

 

He drew scores of mourners on Tuesday when park rangers announced that the deer,

an 8- to 10-point buck, had been killed during the night by a trophy-seeker who

took his head as a prize.

 

Now investigators are working to track the poacher who found his prey so

obliging he didn't even have to use a gun.

 

" He wouldn't resist anybody, " said Assistant Chief J.J. Laine, of the Harris

County Precinct 5 Constable's Office. " He's just a friendly animal, like a

family pet. "

 

Mr. Buck was one of two white-tailed deer kept on a wildlife sanctuary at Bear

Creek Pioneers Park in west Harris County. Because of his fearlessness around

humans, park rangers considered him unfit to survive in the wild. But the fences

that separated the buck from the wilderness couldn't keep him safe from manmade

danger.

 

Sometime Monday night, Laine said, someone hiked through dense brush, cut

through the park's chain-link fence, and then used a bolt cutter to get through

the gate that enclosed Mr. Buck and his penmate, Uva — both of them Bear Creek

mainstays since 2001.

 

Laine doubts that Mr. Buck put up a fight. Early Tuesday, a ranger found the

deer's decapitated carcass in a pool of blood. The park's staff is distraught,

and officers say they will pursue the harshest charges possible.

 

" Felony poaching, animal cruelty, trespassing, criminal mischief, damage to

county property, and we'll go from there when we determine what type of weapon

was used, " Laine said. " In short, this person or these people are in big

trouble. "

 

The 2,100-acre park occupies part of a federally protected reservoir system.

Because the park is on federal property, officials say, the charges could be

even more serious. None of the other animals housed in the wildlife sanctuary,

including emus, bison and exotic birds, was injured.

 

 

Awards totaling $10,000 offered for tips

Late Tuesday afternoon, Laine hunted for tracks in the brush leading to the

4-foot hole cut in the park's fence. He found no sign of four-wheel-drive

vehicles, and thinks the poacher or poachers came on foot.

 

Earlier in the day, a bloodhound found a scent it can use to identify the

criminal, Laine said. Officials have been showing photos of the deer to

taxidermists who might be able to lead them to the poacher. And state game

wardens are analyzing the carcass to determine the cause of death, he said.

 

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the

killer's arrest. Also, Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack is offering a

privately funded $5,000 reward.

 

" I'm outraged by this, and obviously a lot of people are outraged as well, "

Radack said Tuesday. " Any person who goes in and attacks an animal in captivity

is just the lowest of the low. "

 

 

Doe seems to miss partner

Uva appeared to be in mourning on Tuesday, Laine said. The normally sociable doe

hung back against the tree line and watched as rangers and deputies searched for

evidence.

 

" You can tell she's upset, " Laine said. " I think she misses her partner, as do

we all. "

 

When he died, Mr. Buck was more than 10 years old — a full lifetime for a wild

deer. In captivity, white-tailed deer can live to be 20.

 

jennifer.latson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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