Saving a young buck tangled up in a barb-wire fence was “all in a day’s work at Husky” for two men on Thursday. While checking on oil wells near Vermilion, Alberta Corey Dennett discovered the animal. He knew he couldn’t free the deer himself so called in Marshall Stasiuk and Dylan Pattison for help.

“We ripped over and that’s when we came across [the deer],” Stasiuk said in a phone interview, saying the young buck was pretty wild before the two men joined Dennett.

Stasiuk shared the video, captured by Dylan Pattison, on Facebook.

(Warning: some graphic content)

The deer had one leg caught in the fence and was up to its belly in a snowbank. At first the animal struggled to get away as the two men approached but its leg was held fast by the wire. Stasiuk said the men grew up with animals and knew how to handle the deer.

“You learn a little bit on animal handling through even cattle and that. They’re not all that much different. Nobody likes to be tied up or restrained. If you can keep them calm the best you can it sure makes handling easier.”

Stasiuk adjusted the deer’s body to its side and held the animal close while Dennett tried to loosen the wire around it’s leg. Unable to work the wire free, Dennett went back to the truck for tools to make the job easier.

“It’s the Husky animal rescue going on right now,” Pattison said while Stasiuk pet the deer and talked to it. The deer relaxed and looked around before Dennet came back with wire cutters.

Dennet carefully cut the wire close to the deer’s leg and freed his leg. Stasiuk lifted the animal to its feet, placed the animal in the snow and pet it gently before it jumped up and darted back through the fence, this time avoiding the wire completely.

In a Facebook comment one of Stasiuk’s friends, Linda Walde wrote, ” My new heros!!!! Hope the little guy survives. Why is there a fawn in February???was momma around?”

Stasiuk responded that while they didn’t see the mother, they figured she wasn’t too far away.

Stasiuk said it seemed like the deer knew they showed up to help. The men were most concerned that the buck’s leg was broken. Although the video shows that the leg is badly cut up and the deer holding its injured leg up carefully as it runs, the leg was not broken. The men know the game warden in the area and said they would have called him if needed.

While the men have no idea what the deer’s fate will be, they are optimistic the buck will survive due to its resilience. Since the rescue the men have kept their eyes open for signs of the buck dead or alive and have found none.

“I think it learned a valuable lesson,” Stasiuk said, laughing. He figured the buck was born in the spring, “just young and not that smart yet.”

myra.nicks@sylvanlakenews.com
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deer rescue