The Ohio Division of Wildlife says a deer has been found with a plastic pumpkin stuck on its head in Northeast Ohio for the third year in a row.
The incident always follows Halloween, when the neighborhood comes to life with superheroes, princesses and mythical creatures carrying around plastic pumpkins to collect candy.
One neighbor in South Euclid, John Cizmadia, has been trying to save the buck for over a week.
“You can't just walk up to it and pull it off,” he said.
Cizmadia is not alone in his concern. Several neighbors, from Willoughby to South Euclid, have banded together on Facebook.
The first sighting was last Monday, and the most recent sighting was Tuesday night.
“We had a bunch of people together, and we had it kind of cornered by some tall fences, where it couldn't jump. We started to close in on it, kind of formed a ring to close in on it. It got spooked and ran at my daughter and knocked her down,” said Cizmadia.
Thankfully, his daughter was not injured.
Some neighbors don't want to call wildlife officials, fearing they will kill the deer.
Wildlife management supervisor Scott Peters said his department would only take such a drastic measure if the deer is suffering.
“Because of dehydration and lack of food. They obviously can't eat while the pumpkin is stuck, then we will step in and humanely euthanized it, if it gets to that point. Hopefully, it doesn't get to that point,” said Peters.
In Cincinnati, neighbors were able to save another deer in the same situation, finding a way to carefully remove a plastic pumpkin from its head. But Peters discourages people from taking matters into their own hands, because animals can become dangerous if frightened.
Experts also want to remind trick-or-treaters to pick up after themselves. He said leaving things behind, like plastic pumpkin baskets, can be harmful to deer and other wildlife.
