Where do deer go when they’re injured?
Strong Memorial Hospital, apparently.
According to reports from Syracuse.com and 13 WHAM News, a “severely injured” deer walked into the emergency room at Strong Memorial on Monday, Oct. 26 just “minutes after being struck by a car.”
Strong may be equipped with state-of-the-art security systems and video surveillance to ward off at least two-thirds of all potential intruders, but it seems that its systems were not so adept at deterring a deer from seeking medical assistance.
As patient Jim DeFerio was being wheeled inside, staff members noticed the deer standing just inside the ER doors.
“I turned around and there was a deer I would say about 3 feet high, a small deer, and he ran past me,” DeFerio told 13 WHAM News from his hospital bed. “It ran right by me slipping as it went and everybody kind of moved aside. What are you going to do? You see a deer coming down fast, so everybody moves.”
Officials from Strong have stated that the intrusive deer did not make it into any patient care areas. Two sheriffs deputies were at the hospital when the deer “staggered in,” according to USA Today, and the deputies strapped down the injured deer on a gurney and wheeled it outside into the parking lot.
“Everybody was concerned about the deer; it was a very unusual situation,” said DeFerio, who had been suffering from a heart attack at the time.
Unfortunately, the deer’s left rear leg had been broken and it was in a state of frenzy after having collapsed twice in the ER.
Animal control was called to the hospital and an officer examined its injuries to see if the deer could survive. It was determined that the injuries were too severe, and it was euthanized.
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