City
Deer Shot with Taser by Toronto Police
Toronto Police used a Taser to subdue a deer that was found wandering downtown this morning.
According to this CP24 report, "The deer had been sitting in a garden near Bay Street and University Avenue [sic] for several hours before police moved in to tranquilize and move the animal."
The deer was initially shot with a tranquilizer gun around 11:15 a.m. at Chestnut and Edward streets. But the scene became rather involved after members of Toronto's animal services department were joined by police (including the Emergency Task Force) on the takedown, possibly making matters worse for the deer. It ended up getting tasered.
I've seen deer in Toronto several times while riding my bike along the Don Trail, through the city's ravines. They usually appear just after dusk. And they're usually rather timid and wary of human contact.
How this deer ended up by Union Station is a mystery. The poor creature was probably lost and trying to find a spot of refuge until nightfall, when it could more easily make its way back to a ravine.
Now that the deer is captured, it will likely be released into a conservation area, if it doesn't end up at the Toronto Zoo. I wonder if the deer will sustain any further injuries, or a premature death, as a result of one officer's eagerness to fire his Taser.
Update: Video, from the Toronto Star:
Photo (of another, more fortunate deer) by Roger Cullman. See more photos from the scene this morning via the National Post.
Discussion
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Don't taze me, doe.
Perhaps the police had seen a few too many movies and was expecting the tranquilizer to have an instant reaction.
The deer was obviously very, very frightened and combined with the tranquiilzer making its way through the deer's system, using a taser is asking for trouble.
I'm shocked (no pun intended) that the deer lived.
Wow, that's upsetting.
Poor deer, just wants a simple life and he gets shot, and probably has no clue what's going on.
"Other" poll responses so far:
- Why? Didn't the tranq dart work?
- Using a taser on an animal is shameful
- It's better than shooting it, possibly killing it.
- The use of a taser is never justifiable
When you start tazing deers, you know the world has become trigger
happy! Maybe they can make this into a video game.
Urban Deer Hunter!
I'm gonna taze your furry ass!
The report I heard on CBC radio was that they got a fence put around the deer before they tranquilized it - they knew that the tranquilizer would take about 5 mins to work and the deer would be pissed off and try and run away - hence the fence. But when they tranquilized it, it was in fact pissed off and jumped over the fence. That's when they tasered it.
I'm not sure they could've done anything better. Though I'm sure commenters here will have all kinds of 'instant expertise.'
I was quick to jump to the conclusion that the cops were just taser-happy. You live in this city long enough, you expect the worst.
But from what I have read, the deer could have run for a mile before the tranquilizer took effect.
Could the deer have run for a mile in DT T.O without becoming roadkill?
Not a chance.
Sadly it had to be done.
Very disturbing, nonetheless.
I was at the scene and the only option to stop the deer from running into Dundas or University Ave traffic was to use the taser.
Oh dear...how shocking! Poor animal should have darted outta there when it had the chance. Welcome to Toronto...Doh!
I'm wondering why they didn't try to use a second tranq dart? How come they didn't throw a net over it before they shot it with a Taser?
I think we've concluded this matter satisfactorily...but let me just pile on and say this article took the fact that the police used their taser egregiously for granted and proceeded to draw its conclusions from that clearly erroneous position.
Not really great journalism.
I don't see why so many people opposed the taser. A deer like animal comes across elements in life that may cause harm or death to it. I am not sure why the tranquilizer didn't work so maybe someone will need to clear that up for me.
As I was saying though the deer on the way to downtown could have been hit by a car, or attacked by a wolf or fallen of a cliff. When animals are out of their element it usually doesn't end well. The same would happen if we could accidently stumble into a jungle and become cornered by lions.
All these faux cowboys with their guns and tazers and billyclubs... and not a one with a lariat.
A Real cowboy would have lassoed the doe and had her ankles tied in under 5 minutes, I'd say.
WTG, Metro 'Force'...the laughing stock of the West. LOL.
The police were needed for crowd control because of all the staff from EMS, ETF, vets, the zoo, humane society... ridiculous. Can you believe this bureaucratic circus?
Please, protect me from their stupidity and paternalistic twaddle.
That doe is fortunate it didn't end up in Vancouver's airport secure zone, it would have been premeditatively been tazered to death. Ask Robert Dziekanski about our police welcome wagon - no wait, he's deceased. peace.
More "other" poll responses:
- some days I'd like to tase blogTO
- Hungry.
- better the deer than me
- Why didn't they just tranquilize it again?
There's a video on thestar.com of the tranq dart hitting the deer, the deer running and being tasered.
I saw the whole incident from a bird's eye view of the office tower above the deer, and there was no "fence" made before shooting it. Only four vans loosely parked and a bunch of cops standing between the deer and the vans.
OBVIOUSLY, it was going to run around after being shot. They should have erected some tall wooden boards all the way around it to prevent it from running around. This could have been done easily in the four+ hours the cops just stood around staring it at it sitting in a bush.
Pathetic.
In most places they would have shot it. C'mon people.
Agreed.
Good thing the cops got to the deer first or else Garden would have a new special on the menu for tonight
@Dan
"In most places they would have shot it. "
@Laura
Pathetic? Cut them some slack it is not exactly like there is a rulebook for these kind of oddball situations. Weird things take time to deal with - there is not protocol in place. Dan is right, in many cities they would have shot it.
The split second decision to tase the deer based on what happened, reasonable and inevitable. The poor preparation that led up to the inevitable, sad. They had 4 hours and the best barrier they could come up with was 2 cops with a volleyball net? pathetic, you can't tell me there wasn't enough time to round up some of that 8' high blue wire temporary fencing they use at construction sites. Well at least they didn't go the route they did with that cow that got loose in Hazeltown last year where two cops emptied their 15 shot clips into the poor thing. That would have made for enchanting family viewing.
I hope Roger Cullman is alright. Why did they taser a journalist? I don't understand the police. I think they're getting out of control.
Roger, get better soon.
When is this going to be ripped from the headlines for Flashpoint? :)
I'm with Laura and Chester on this - there's no reason they couldn't have made some kind of fence.
Also, see how it fell? Did no one else notice that the entire downtown core was coated in oil for some reason this morning? (I know that's mostly unrelated, except for the fact that the deer slipped in it..)
Toronto Police are laughably inept when they aren't outright criminal. I'm looking at you, union boss Mike McCormack.
Loose deer, oil slick, no tokens... coincidence? I think not.
Here's a video of the tazing from a different perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKbqCuiHXqk
it's a deer for crissakes, take a drive on any rural Ontario side road at night and see how many you have to avoid running over with your car, it's not like they killed an endangered white rhino.
Ya know, that was a small Bambi anyhow. It wouldn't have made much sausage or jerky. Maybe next year it'll be plumper and ready for Mama's kitchen.
This all unfolded across from my school..
poor thing.
nice one!!
If anyone had hit it with their car they would have been pissed that this deer just raised their car insurance.
I wish deer evolved and understood that cities exist. That way they could relax when they enter them. You know, walk peacefully and not get all frantic and wild.
Okay I don't believe that last part but really you would think that deer (and other animals) would not try to cross the street in the middle of the night when they see lights coming. Don't their parents teach them anything?
They tasered a deer in Toronto but haven't tasered the cayotes, skunks, raccoons? Equal rights for wildlife in Toronto! Taser the animals. lol
There is a book, I believe its called, Animal-Speak, about the messages and meaning behind certain animals. Deer, if I recall correctly is a sign that "the solution is in gentleness". So of course the natural response was to shoot it.
I hope this becomes an episode of Flashpoint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL9xCWphV8s
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
See the video above. This wasn't the case. The deer gets hit, runs around for a few seconds, realizes its cornered then runs to one of the more fortified sections of the barricade where it was met with a taser. It didn't jump the barricades, and judging by the location where it was tased, I don't think it would have been able to. The tasing seemed completely unnecessary. You can even see in the video that they had a net on hand, but chose to tase the deer first.
I don't understand why they didn't have everyone in camoflage so as to not fighten the deer, then quietly erect a 12 ft enclosure around the whole area, play soft music to calm the deer down, then have a deer whisperer calmly walk in to explain to the deer that everything is going to be okay, as long as it followed him back to the Don Valley, and promise to never come beck downtown. Wouldn't that have been easier and better for everyone. Oh wait... I'm an idiot.
Good use of the taser. The deer won't be back in the city anytime soon.
People: It's a DEER!
Thinking about this some more, deer or not, are we supposed to believe that given that that there are frequent protests in the city these days and talk of bringing the G whatever here next year, that less than 500 meters from the protest hot spots of NPS, the US consulate and Queen's Park that in 4 hours the cops couldn't deploy 50 linear feet of riot fence? Seriously, they have to have a warehouse full of the stuff, I bet there's some Sergeant who had to authorize it and has the only keys and they couldn't rouse him in Coburg.
The situation should have and certainly could have been handled more humanely, without using a taser. The excuses for using it were ridiculous as there were other options. The crowd could have been moved back, the traffic stopped briefly and they could have blocked it in with a fence or used the net more effectively. Too many people have no regard for wildlife and are not educated in these matters. It's a shame their habitat is being reduced to the point that this is occurring.
I love it, people ask, "Hey, what's that deer doing in our city,town or back yard!?!"
When I'm sure, at some earlier point in time, the deer and other wildlife said, "Hey, what's with these "two-legs" building their sh*t in OUR backyard?!"
when will they let me taze a cop!
Has Miller proposed a ban on Deer yet?
Yeah, he said if he sees another deer in the city, he's going to close all the libraries and pools, and people in North York will have to shovel their own driveways..
People are more riled up about a deer getting tazered than a toddler who fell to his death at Pearson?
Drive north of Steeles. You'll see deer, lots of them, littering the side of the 400.
I was sickened to hear that they tasered the deer. I called the police this morning to inquire why it was so necessary to taser the deer and they said that they had no choice but to taser the deer as it was about to attack children. This seems like a nice answer written by their PR department but does not correspond with reality. Toronto Police, we are watching you.
The deer was totally out of control and was handling a stapler in a threatening manner, putting the officers in grave danger.
The officer was in grave danger? The deer was in danger.
Poor deer. Who knows what they did with it...
there should be a follow up to this story. That video is really upsetting. Stupid police force, stick with solving crime. Leave the animals alone.
stupid officer think he will be the hero of the day by taserin a deer
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