Reindeer are supposed to pull Santa Claus’ sleigh, but in Oregon recently, a red-suited man on a sled wound up pushing a deer.
A deer wandered onto a frozen golf course pond in Sunriver, Oregon, on Friday and then lost its footing and needed to be rescued by firefighters.
The animal couldn’t get all its legs underneath it. A video shows it skidding on the ice with its legs buckling beneath it.
Firefighter Jeff ‘JJ’ Johnston using an ice-rescue sled to gently nudge a deer off a frozen pond in Sunriver, Oregon
He used the sled to push the deer along the ice to safety
Firefighter Jeff ‘JJ’ Johnston used a new bright red ice-rescue sled to save the animal.
Benjamin O’Keefe, a captain in the fire department of the resort and residential community, had his camera rolling.
The young deer’s hind legs began pumping, but it couldn’t get up on its front legs.
Johnston got close, spoke calming words to the deer and – slipping a bit himself as a tried to gain traction – gently pushed it with the front of the sled to the edge of the pond. Even then, the deer needed some coaxing.
The deer tried to get onto the sled before it turned around and scampered off
The firefighter gently pet the deer on the head to encourage it to get onto solid ground
The deer tried to get onto the sled before it turned around. Pushed once more to the snowy ground, it gained solid footing and, with a wave from Johnston, ran off.
‘JJ was talking to it the whole time,’ said Tammie Waters, office manager for the Sunriver Fire Department. ‘The deer played along pretty good.’
It was the inaugural rescue mission for the sled, which was purchased with a grant from Firehouse Subs, a sandwich restaurant chain, she said.
She hopes it never happens, but when someone falls through the ice or is stuck on thin ice, the sled will be put to use.
‘It was a great way to get training, and rescue a deer,’ Waters said.