A buck found itself hopelessly tangled in a backyard hammock in North Canton, Ohio, and it took a small team of police officers with cutting tools to set the animal free. Officers worked carefully to slice through the webbing without hurting the deer, then watched it bound off into the neighborhood unharmed.
According to WBAL News Radio, North Canton police officers rescued the deer after it became stuck in the unusual spot, a detail also reported by wbaltv.com. Officers Taylor, Carrel and Lewis assisted a local Ohio Department of Natural Resources officer in freeing the buck, per cleveland19.com. The rescuers carefully cut through the hammock to release the animal, and the North Canton Police Department described it as its first-ever hammock rescue, according to upi.com.
No Injuries Reported After the Ordeal
The deer did not appear to be injured and was released at the scene, the same report notes. Video shared by the department showed multiple officers working together to free the animal, wbaltv.com reported, capturing the moment the team sent the buck safely on its way.
The hammock incident stands out, but it is far from the department's only brush with wildlife in distress. North Canton police said helping deer in trouble seems to be an annual occurrence, with officers regularly coming to the aid of deer tangled in fences or stuck in ponds, according to wmur.com.
A Recurring Job for Local Officers
The department noted it has received calls over the years involving deer stuck in fences and ponds, cleveland19.com reported. Police have said they have previously helped free deer tangled in fences, stuck in ponds, and trapped in other places they definitely were not supposed to be, per the same upi.com account.
This time, the strange predicament was a backyard hammock — a first for the department, by its own account. With the buck cut loose and unharmed, officers wrapped up what they called an unusual rescue and moved on, ready for whatever tangled situation the local deer population finds itself in next.
