Arrow Removed From Black-Tailed Deer's Neck After Animal Was Tranqualized In Oregon

A target arrow was removed from the neck of a black-tailed doe after it was tranquilized by wildlife biologists. The incident took place in the East Medford hills, Oregon, Wednesday morning.

According to the Oregon State Police, the deer was first seen with an orange arrow pierced through its neck in the backyard of a house April 23. However, it disappeared before rescuers arrived at the scene.

Following the incident, the State Police and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists had launched a search for the deer. On Wednesday morning, they were able to locate it. The animal was found feeding with other blacktails with the arrow still stuck in its neck.

Mathew Vargas, a wildlife biologist at Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stated they successfully cornered the deer at around 8:30 a.m. local time (11:30 a.m. EDT) and managed to fire a tranquilizer dart at it.

“It took a bit of time following it because we can’t jump over all the fences and bushes like it can,” said Mathew Vargas.

The doe had then leaped away to a backyard in the area. The biologists were able to get permission to enter the backyard and removed the arrow from its neck before releasing it.

“We popped the arrow out and the deer strolled away 15 minutes later. It was about as good as you could hope for,” he added.

Sargent Jim Collom, of the OSP’s Fish and Wildlife Division, stated the arrow was seized as evidence. No suspect has been identified yet and the case was still under investigation.

In a similar incident that occurred in 2018, two deer were found wandering around with arrows protruding from their bodies in Oregon. One had an arrow embedded through the neck and the other through its head and mouth. Three months later, after offering a reward of $2,600, authorities were able to apprehend the culprit, identified as 36-year-old Daniel Dwayne Logsdon. According to his criminal records, Logsdon was a convicted sex offender who was attending court trials at the time. He was charged with two felony counts of first-degree animal abuse and two wildlife misdemeanors.