British Columbia

Woman questions why injured deer left to die on Penticton highway

A Penticton woman is questioning why police and conservation officers refused to euthanize an injured deer she found limping along the side of a B.C.'s Highway 97 with a fawn in tow on Monday evening.

Theresa Nolet wanted authorities to put down the deer and to send the doe to a shelter

An injured deer fell down by the side of a busy highway in Penticton. (Theresa Nolet)

A Penticton woman is questioning why police and conservation officers refused to euthanize an injured deer she found limping along the side of a B.C.'s Highway 97 with a fawn in tow on Monday evening.

Theresa Nolet, who runs an animal rescue group, wanted the deer put down and was hoping to take the fawn to a shelter.

"That leg is very badly broken. She is probably going to die a horrible death. And the baby is only a couple of days old at the most. She is not going to survive without her mom," she said.

But she said conservation officers wouldn't come to the scene and an RCMP officer refused to put the animal out of its suffering.

"They said to just to leave it alone and go home basically."

She believes there must be a better way for authorities to deal with injured wildlife.

"To just leave that animal in pain and know that the baby is going to just die as a result — I just don't understand that thinking."

The RCMP and the Conservation Officer Service weren't immediately available to comment. 

Facebook: Watch video of the doe


    
   
 

With files from Brady Strachan