Firefighters in Florida helped save a deer from dehydration after finding it trapped in a home destroyed by Hurricane Irma.
A crew from Delray Beach Fire Department was surveying damaged buildings in Big Pine Key, Florida, as part of a strike team when it came across the weakened deer inside a home.
Lieutenant Nicholas Johnson fed the deer four bottles of water, and the buck ran off after regaining his strength.
A crew from Delray Beach Fire Department was surveying damaged buildings in Big Pine Key, Florida, as part of a strike team when it came across the weakened deer inside a home
The endangered Key deer population’s water supply had been completely wiped out in Hurricane Irma due to storm surge
‘I don’t know who was more startled the deer or me,’ Johnson, who is part of the Strike team but works for Broward Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue, said. ‘I am just glad to not only help the residents, but the wildlife as well.’
Johnson said that the endangered Key deer population’s water supply had been completely wiped out in Hurricane Irma due to storm surge.
Salt water from the ocean had mixed with the natural drinking holes, making them undrinkable.
Monroe County BOCC urged Keys residents to contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife if they come across deer in distress.
‘This is an extraordinary circumstance involving a distressed deer and a trained first responder,’ it said in a Facebook post.
Several endangered deer found only in the lower Florida Keys have been spotted following Hurricane Irma.
Lieutenant Nicholas Johnson (pictured) helped the deer regain its strength by feeding it plenty of water
Salt water from the ocean had mixed with the natural drinking holes, making them undrinkable for the deer population
The Key deer is the smallest subspecies of the North American white-tailed deer, with males standing only about 3 feet (1 m) at the shoulder and females even smaller.
Most live on two islands, Big Pine Key and No Name Key, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine, only 15 miles (24 km) east of where Irma slammed ashore as a category 4 hurricane earlier this month, was closed ahead of the storm’s arrival, officials said.
Poaching and habitat loss reduced the Key Deer to just a few dozen animals by the 1950s.
Their numbers recovered quickly after the refuge was opened in 1967. It covers some 9,200 acres (3723 hectares) of pine, hardwood and mangrove forests set amid freshwater and salt marsh wetlands, and is home to 23 endangered and threatened species of plants and animals.
The deer are the only large herbivore in the Keys, feeding on more than 100 different native plants.