Deer Leads Police On 11-Hour Odyssey Through Coney Island

A wily deer led police on an 11-hour odyssey through Coney Island Saturday. Cops tracked the animal through the urban jungle’s parking lots, housing projects, beaches and construction sites before it was finally nabbed by an officer on horseback.

At least three different police units, as well as animal care, pursued the deer, which is believed to have swam over from Staten Island. Cops said the feral escape artist was able to shake off several tranquilizer darts before it was finally brought down.

The deer was first spotted, along with another hoofed companion, at 7:30am in a construction site in Brighton Beach, according to the NYPD. An officer used a tranquilizer gun to try and bring down one of the deer, but was unsuccessful and both animals disappeared into the water.

Hours later, one of the deer, a male, resurfaced on the beach and was spotted near Surf Avenue and West 21st Street, according to police. He then made his way to a basketball court in a local housing project.

Officers from the NYPD’s emergency service unit responded and shot the deer with a tranquilizer dart, which “bounced off” the animal, police reported. The deer darted away and ended up in a parking lot on Mermaid Avenue, where cops again tried unsuccessfully to take down their target with tranquilizers.

The pursuit ended at 7pm when police cornered the animal in a street close to the Mermaid Avenue parking lot. An officer from the NYPD’s mounted unit took aim and successfully shot the animal with a tranquilizer, police reported.

The NYPD said the subdued deer was loaded into a truck and taken to an animal control center on Staten Island.

In related news, officers in Staten Island also had their hands full Saturday capturing a Kangaroo that had escaped from the fenced-in yard where it was being kept, the New York Times reports.