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Published on October 16, 2024
Hollywood Hills Community and Wildlife Crews Rally to Aid "Floppy" the Deer with Bone Lodged in MouthSource: Roger Heslop, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Concern is mounting for a female deer known locally as "Floppy" after she was spotted with a bone distressingly wedged in her mouth in the Hollywood Hills area. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has initiated a search operation to try and assess the deer, which has become a well-loved fixture among hikers at the Hollywood reservoir. According to KTLA, residents are worried as the deer’s survival chances may be decreasing with each day she remains unable to eat or drink properly due to the protruding bone.

Traffic along the beloved Hollywood Hills walking trail was halted to better locate and hopefully help the animal, who has been difficult to track down. "Our biologist, who’s now been out there for a day and a half, said this is maybe the strangest thing he’s seen in a very long career of doing this kind of work," Tim Daly with the CDFW told KTLA. Fish and wildlife crews are prepared to return to continue their search, prioritizing the deer's recovery.

The wildlife officials suspect the bone to likely be a femur but cannot ascertain whether it is from a human or another animal. There's also speculation about why a deer, typically surviving on various vegetation, ended up with a bone in their mouth. As stated by NBC Los Angeles, "Deer do chew on bones to get nutrients they’re lacking in their diet, so that’s a possibility," Howells said.

Capturing Floppy for treatment has proven to be a challenge, given her location near the Hollywood Reservoir and the fact that the sedative used in tranquilizer darts can take a while to take effect. Fish and Wildlife Biologist Kevin Howells explained the difficulty of the operation to FOX LA, emphasizing that "it takes about 10 minutes for the drug to take effect… enough time for the deer to scamper away and hide." Private animal rescuer Austin Muhs expressed his deep concern regarding the deer's condition after seeing pictures circulating on social media. He's closely monitoring the situation as officials continue their work. "She's wounded. She's injured. She feels vulnerable. She's malnourished," Howells said, outlining the dire state of the animal and the urgency of the rescue efforts.