Six years ago 'Hammy' the deer made headlines around the world after he was spotted wandering around Prince Rupert with a purple hammock wrapped around his antlers. Now, we could have an Okanagan Hammy on our hands.
A resident of West Kelowna’s Lakeview Heights shared a picture on Facebook of a deer that wandered into her yard on Monday with the remnants of a hammock tangled around its rack to such an extent part of its face was obscured.
“Hi everyone! We have a buck in the neighbourhood (Tomat area) that has a tangled mess of rope in his antlers. The COs have come to look at him and they’ve advised he will be just fine with this new fashion accessory until either the rope or the antlers fall off,” wrote the woman.
“He’s a little more jumpy than normal with the restricted vision but he’s eating, drinking and walking without trouble!”
She advised others in the community to contact the BC Conservation Officer Service if the buck gets hung up on anything because of his unwanted headgear.
Unfortunately, for the Lakeview Heights deer, he has become entangled right before the start of rutting season. In the case of Hammy, back in 2017, conservation officers ended up tranquilizing him and removing the tangle of purple rope because they were concerned it might be dangerous if he butted heads with another buck.
At this time of year, deer start rubbing the velvet off their antlers, and that can lead to some sticky situations.
“They may become entangled in netting, anything loose as they’re trying to take the velvet off their antlers,” conservation officer Hailey Gooliaff told Castanet.
“This may cause them to be carrying around some extra netting in their antlers. Just be aware that they do lose their antlers every years, so it will fall off. As long as it’s not impacting their mobility or their capability to feed, they should be alright.”
