A video of a deer taking a panicked dip in the swimming pool of an Ontario recreation centre is going viral this week, with many people wondering how the heck the wild animal ended up in the building in the first place.

In footage shared on TikTok, staff at the Vollmer Recreation Complex — which is just over three and a half hours' drive from Toronto in LaSalle, Ontario — can be seen frantically trying to corral the critter, who mistakenly crashed through a window and proceeded to romp around the centre's pool area mid-afternoon on Sunday.

And though the dramatic entrance itself wasn't caught on film, the ensuing antics were.

In its attempts to run away from pursuing staff, the deer jumped over a barrier around the centre's pool, splashing in and making their way over to the other edge. 

They then emerged on the opposite side with another dramatic jump, sliding across the slippery tiled floor before the video cuts to a different clip of workers still trying to follow and coax the poor thing as it takes another lap in the pool, looking for a way out.

@francescosiino

Yall wouldn’t believe me if i told you a deer broke into the vollmer centre in lasalle today

♬ That gives me a big stiffy - Australian Trucking Media

"Y'all wouldn’t believe me if I told you a deer broke into the Vollmer Centre in LaSalle today," the poster captioned the minute-long video, which has now been viewed more than 427k times on their TikTok account alone.

As it's been re-shared across socials, many have commented things like "poor baby, probably so scared!" and "hope he wasn't hurt!"

Some also added that they had loved ones who were at the centre at the time, with one woman saying her grandson had just finished his swimming lesson when the incident occurred. Guests' belongings can also be strewn around the pool's edge in the footage.

"Last time I broke in and went swimming naked they called the police and made such a big deal of it," one person quipped, as others likewise joked about the animal merely wanting to take a swim.

According to some comments, the deer did in fact make it out safely. But, as one person pointed out, it has Ontario's hunting season to worry about in just a few months.