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Archive for the 'Division of Parks and Wildlife' Tag

MANGLED ANTLERS ARE ALL THAT REMAIN OF BUCK

January 24th, 2013, 12:01 pm by

Wildlife officials tranquilized a large buck that had been living on a ledge of a retaining wall along Vindicator Drive in Rockrimmon and removed it on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. It was given a medical exam, treated with antibiotics for an infected injury to its leg, clipped of its antlers and relocated south of Colorado Springs. Courtesy Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife.

Readers this week were reporting the Rockrimmon buck with the mangled antlers, swollen leg and drooping ears was missing from his ledge at Vindicator Drive and Rockrimmon Boulevard.

The buck first appeared before Christmas, obviously injured and suffering. It seemed to be trying to hide behind bushes on the ledge of a retaining wall beneath an apartment complex.

In this Jan. 13, 2013, photo by Rockrimmon resident Sue Giesbrecht, a large buck with injuries including broken antlers, a swollen leg and drooping ears lived several weeks on a ledge of a retaining wall along Vindicator Drive in Rockrimmon. It is seen in this Jan. 13 photo. Parks and Wildlife officers tranquilized the deer and removed it on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, relocating it south of Colorado Springs.

Its magnificent, oddly twisting antlers made it impossible to hide.

Passersby easily spotted it at the busy intersection, prompting worried folks to feed it and call for action on its behalf.

In the following weeks, I watched as crowds of onlookers gathered daily at the Safeway shopping center across the street. And I received regular updates from people who saw it wandering in nearby neighborhoods.

Some even lashed out at me, declaring that by writing about the buck,  it’s blood would be on my hands if it died for some reason!

Anyway, after the buck went missing over the weekend, I called Michael Seraphin at the state Division of Parks and Wildlife to see if  anyone had filed a “Missing John Doe” report. Or, in this case, John Deer.

I was surprised at what I learned.

The deer wasn’t missing, Seraphin said. It was captured by wildlife officers and removed Friday night.

It seems as the deer napped on his ledge, it was deer-napped by wildlife officers who tranquilized it for safe transport.

They took the deer to the agency’s regional office on Sinton Road where it was examined, treated for an infected wound to its leg, clipped of its antlers and put in a heated garage for the night.

The Rockrimmon buck, in a Jan. 15, 2013, photo by Rockrimmon resident Sue Giesbrecht.

“They gave him a good medical exam and determined he didn’t seem to have any broken bones,” Seraphin said. “He did have an injury to his leg that had a mild infection. So we gave him antibiotics.”

Though the deer’s impressive antlers would have fallen off naturally in a few weeks, officers chose to cut them off to take the bull’s eye off the animal, allowing him to further heal in peace.

“We removed the antlers so he doesn’t keep getting in fights with other deer,” he said.

At dawn Saturday, the deer was re-assessed for any after-effects of the tranquilizer. Once it was deemed hang-over free, officers took it to an undisclosed open space south of Colorado Springs and released back into the wild.

Actually, it’s in a far more wild environment than it had experienced on its Rockrimmon ledge.

There, people were plying the deer with apples, cranberries, lettuce, grapes and tubs of water.

“There was concern it was not getting the proper diet and becoming wholly dependent on people,” Seraphin told me. “For example, someone put hay up there on its ledge and other foods that aren’t normally part of its diet like grapes and lettuce. Deer can’t digest hay well.”

In addition, folks were walking up to the animal — some with babies in their arms — to get a closer look at it.

Wildlife officials were concerned that folks were putting themselves at risk of a close encounter with its antlers should the deer, estimated at 200 pounds and at six to eight years old, had  spooked for any reason.

The Rockrimmon buck, in a Jan. 13, 2013, photo by Rockrimmon resident Sue Giesbrecht.

The prospect of the buck bolting into traffic or whacking a child walking to school or even dying on the ledge in front of a crowd was especially troubling to officials.

In the end, its growing celebrity status doomed its stay in Rockrimmon and led officials to risk tranquilizing it and removing the buck.

“Everything went fine,” Seraphin said. “You never know how they’ll handle being tranquilized. It can be a difficult process. They can die from it.”

Not this tough old buck. It woke up Saturday and was healthy enough for release.

“We didn’t want to keep him too long,” Seraphin said. “We checked him at first light. He seemed alert. So we took him out and released him. The operation went smoothly.”

So you folks who live and hike southeast of town, keep an eye out next fall for an old buck with a magnificent rack. It may have antlers twisting in all directions, even under its chin. I’ll be interested to hear how he’s doing!

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LITTLE JOEY ESCAPES KILLER BUT DANGER LURKS

January 12th, 2013, 12:01 pm by

Joey, the 18-month-old Yorkie, owned by Frank and Mary VerHey

Little Joey came running up to greet me with a smile on his face. He was so adorable I barely noticed the bite marks on the head of the 5-pound, 18-month-old Yorkie.

A few days before Christmas, Joey had been snatched by a coyote as he played in the yard, chasing birds.

Luckily, Joey’s owner, 84-year-old Frank VerHey, was standing close by at his work bench and saw the abduction.

“That sonofagun coyote jumped over the fence, picked Joey up by the head and took off,” Frank told me Wednesday.

Frank immediately gave chase, running after the predator as his pup dangled and flopped from the coyote’s mouth.

“He jumped back over the fence with me after him,” Frank said. “He cut across the street. I ran as fast as I could run.”

Frank VerHey and his dog, Joey, in the backyard of their home in Emerald Acres Mobile Home Park on North Cascade Avenue. (Photo by Christian Murdock / The Gazette)

For a few frantic minutes, Frank followed them through his neighbors’ yards, up the street and down the alley of the Emerald Acres Mobile Home Park on north Cascade Avenue, near a bend in Monument Creek.

“I’m 84 years old with a pacemaker,” Frank said, vividly recalling each step in the chase. “I was trying to follow that little bugger.”

It must have been quite the scene: Frank running and hollering for help; a neighbor screaming as the coyote raced toward her with little Joey; and finally another neighbor confronting the escaping canine, causing it to drop Joey in a heap and race off.

“He dropped him in the middle of D Street,” Frank said. “He was bleeding bad. I picked him up and ran him to the hospital. They told me he didn’t have a 20 percent chance of making it.”

But three days later, and after $1,900 worth of surgery to close his wounds, Joey was declared a Christmas miracle and released. Frank and his wife of 62 years, Mary, celebrated the return of their little dog.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there.

Even as we spoke, the would-be kidnapper and his pals were trotting through the 18-acre field that separates the creek from the mobile home park and Frank and Mary’s trailer.

It was mid-afternoon but the five coyotes were not shy as a couple of them rough-housed on a pile of dirt near the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail along the creek.

And that’s the problem. Frank said the coyotes aren’t afraid of humans. They hang around all the time. Even hop in the yard and steal pieces of bread he tosses to the birds he feeds in his yard.

“They are so brazen,” Frank said. “They roam around here like they own the place. Do we have to live like this, worried that they’re going to grab our dog and kill him?”

So I called Michael Seraphin, spokesman for the state Division of Parks and Wildlife. Surely, I suggested, there must be something Frank can do to protect his pet from coyotes. How about shooting them with a small-caliber rifle or pellet gun.

As usual, I was wrong.

“In the county, you’d just shoot them,” Seraphin said bluntly. “But you can’t do that in the city.”

It’s open season on coyotes year-round. And if you kill them on your property, you don’t even need a small game hunting license.

But only in unincorporated areas of the county. Not within city limits, where it’s illegal to discharge a weapon.

And it seems the coyotes have figured out they are free to hunt and kill in the city with impunity.

“Urban coyotes feel very brazen,” Seraphin said, echoing Frank. “They never get harassed, shot at or killed for hanging around people.

“They believe people are not a threat.”

Instead, they’ve learned we are a source of food. As a result, coyotes range across the Pikes Peak region, feasting on deer, fox, rabbit, squirrel, mice and anything humans carelessly leave out including bird food and garbage.

“They are omnivores and will eat anything,” Seraphin said. “They catch small mammals like mice and other rodents. And they’ll catch foxes as well as dogs and cats.”

So what are people like Frank supposed to do to protect their pets? I’ve written about rural neighborhoods that hired companies to set out live traps. But Seraphin said coyotes typically are too smart to enter an enclosure. And leg-hold traps are illegal in Colorado and only permitted if there is a threat to human health.

A coyote in a live trap.

Seraphin suggested everyone who sees coyotes should haze the animals. Scream at them. Throw rocks or cans at them. Spray them with hoses. Make them feel unwelcome.

One option is buying cans of pepper spray that can hit a target 20 feet away. But Seraphin cautioned even pepper spray requires practice to use — aim low so it doesn’t blow back on you.

“Coyotes are becoming an increasing problem in urban areas across North America,” he said. “It’s a difficult question of how to deal with any predator in an urban setting.”

For Frank, it means keeping close track of Joey and finding ways to dissuade the coyotes from lurking near his place.

“I put up motion detectors and lights hoping that might keep them away,” Frank said as Joey happily circled the yard, scampering after birds. “But I guess I just won’t leave Joey alone for a second.”

A coyote runs across a field behind Frank VerHey’s backyard Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. VerHey’s little dog, Joey, nearly died in December when a coyote snatched him out of VerHey’s yard on North Cascade Avenue . (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

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MAGNIFICENT BUCK A VICTIM OF LOVE

January 10th, 2013, 12:01 pm by

Just before Christmas, a buck with a large, magnificent set of unusual antlers showed up near the intersection of Rockrimmon Boulevard and Vindicator Drive looking pathetically underweight with obvious injuries, a noticeable limp, blood-stained fur and antlers and sagging ears.

At the Safeway across the street, customers and employees shared their concerns for the buck. Some speculated he’d been hit by a car, noting the large knots on his legs. Others volunteered that they were taking cranberries and water to the buck.

A few days later, I saw the buck again. Instead of limping along the sidewalk, he was resting on the ledge of a retaining wall, about five feet above the street. He was hidden among shrubs growing on the ledge. He barely moved as people walked right up to him. Next to him was a plastic tub of water left by a neighbor.

In the meantime, concerned neighbors started calling the state Division of Parks and Wildlife office and its officers began making daily checks on the buck.

Some asked if the buck could be caught and taken to a sanctuary for treatment.

Others wondered if it could be moved to a more remote location, away from the busy intersection and the constant stream of turning cars and trucks around the shopping center and the foot traffic of children walking to Eagleview Middle School.

A few even suggested the buck needs to be euthanized because it was obviously in pain.

My wife and I have been keeping tabs on the buck. My son, Ben, reported watching from his school bus as people hand-feed apples to the buck.

Peregrine resident Chris Duffey is among the worried neighbors.

“He doesn’t look like he’s doing very well,” Duffey told me. “It’s frustrating as an animal lover to see that animal there suffering.”

Duffey said it appears to her the buck was hit by a car or truck, noting the knots on his legs are the size of tennis balls.

“I hate to see him suffer a slow death,” she said. “It seems inhumane.”

So I called Michael Seraphin, spokesman for Parks and Wildlife, who confirmed his agency is monitoring the buck.

Seraphin said wildlife agency experts believe the buck, most likely, is a victim of love.

They suspect he is battered, bloodied and bruised after a vicious rutting season in which bucks fight each other for dominance and the right to mate.

“After the rut, male deer often are in poor body condition,” Seraphin said. “They can appear weak and stressed.

“They have been battling with other deer. Often they get so focused on their reproductive drive and the challenge for dominance that they don’t eat. This can really take a lot out of them, especially older bucks like this one.”

An injured mule deer rests on a ledge of a retaining wall along Vindicator Drive near Rockrimmon Boulevard.

Wildlife websites say bucks can shed 20 percent of their weight during the rut. Afterward, they will bed down for several days to recover. Sometimes bucks in rut will fight to the death.

Other factors also may have contributed to the buck’s condition, Seraphin said. A car may have hit the deer. Or a predator such as a mountain lion or coyote could have attacked.

“We’re hoping he’ll regain his strength and his health will improve,” Seraphin said. “But if he continues to go downhill, we’ll have to revisit the decision to euthanize it.”

Seraphin said the ledge where he’s been resting is beneath a couple crapapple trees, which he’s been eating. And he said deer are pretty tough animals, noting a few three-legged deer can be spotted around the region.

An injured buck mule deer rests on a ledge of a retaining wall beneath an apartment building along Vindicator Drive near Rockrimmon Boulevard. Above it, other deer graze on grass.

But the buck’s magnificent antlers, and the attention of well-meaning strangers, might doom it.

“Even though the rut is over, male deer will continue to jostle him as long as they have those antlers,” he said. “They will take advantage of his weakened condition.”

Then there’s the problem of humans feeding the deer.

“We’d ask people not to feed him,” Seraphin said. “It’s illegal to feed deer. And there’s a good reason. They can starve to death with a full stomach.”

When deer deviate from their natural diet of grasses, shrubs, leaves and other vegetation, they can suffer fatal digestive problems.

“It’s a difficult situation,” he said. “Everyone wants to help the deer. But the only choices are putting it down or letting it be and hoping it improves on its own.

“I’m afraid time is not on the deer’s side  unless he makes a marked recovery soon. Each day that goes by, we’re getting closer and closer to taking some sort of action. We can’t leave the situation the way it is.”

BEFORE

The mule deer had a spectacular set of antlers when it was healthy before the fall rut as seen in this photo by Side Streets reader George Gibson.

AFTER

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