CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - A plastic jack-o'-lantern meant for collecting Halloween candy is threatening the life of a small deer that frequently visits a gated community.
The fake pumpkin has been stuck on the animal's snout for at least several days. It appears to be snagged on the young buck's ears or horn buds. Ironically, the container that resembles a feed bag is instead keeping the animal from eating and possibly drinking.
Officials from a Grand Rapids zoo could not get close enough to the animal Friday to shoot it with a tranquilizer. They planned to try again Saturday.
If they see the deer, they hope to tranquilize it, remove the plastic jack-o'-lantern and take the animal somewhere to recover until it can be released back into the wild.
"He seems to be doing pretty well," said Bert Vescolani, director of the John Ball Zoo. "I'm always amazed at how wildlife makes it sometimes, even under the hardest conditions."
Anesthetizing the buck and taking him away carries some degree of risk, Vescolani said, but the creature surely will die of starvation or dehydration unless the plastic pumpkin is removed from his head.
The bucket also would make it much easier for hunters to see the animal when the state's hunting season begins Wednesday.
