Bambi saved from slippery lake

UPDATE 11:15 A.M. 

Reminiscent of the classic Disney movie, Bambi, a young deer could not get its legs under itself, requiring rescue on North Okanagan Lake Sunday afternoon.

Vernon Fire Captain Doug Imrich says his team worked with Conservation Officer Ken Owens to get the slipping and sliding deer to safety.

“We received several calls of this young deer that had gone out on to the ice of Okanagan Lake around the 8200 block of Tronson Road,” says Imrich.

“We went out there and met Owens to assist him with the rescue. The deer was approximately 200 yards off shore on the fresh ice.”

Crews put on their personal flotation devices and borrowed a kayak from the property to do the rescue.

“We tied Owens off with some rope and then he took the kayak and he went out to the deer, went past the deer, and then basically corralled the deer,” says Imrich.

The deer originally tried to evade rescue but kept slipping on the ice and eventually fell from exhaustion. Imrich says the deer didn’t fall through the ice or appeared injured.

“Eventually the deer allowed Owens to get right beside him. Once he got control of the deer we pulled him in on the kayak.”

They didn’t allow the deer to go free on the shore of the lake in case he went back on the ice, so the team took the deer up into the hills.

“So we lassoed its legs and put him in Owen’s truck and released it on top of the Tavistock Properties. It just walked off into the bush. It worked out really well,” shared Imrich.

Once the deer was safe crews also did some checks on the ice and warn it is much thinner than it appears.

“Even though the ice looks nice and I heard people were skating on the ice, it is still very thin. The ice is cracking and makes a very eerie sound. We want to emphasize while we are very happy with the outcome of everything, we don’t ever want anyone to get hurt trying to go rescue a deer and get themselves in danger,” says Imrich.

Emergency Crews rushed to ice coated Okanagan Lake to rescue a deer Sunday afternoon.

Vernon Search and rescue and conservation officers used a kayak to perform the rescue on the young deer.

Once the rescuer was in place the team on shore used ropes to bring the kayak over the ice. The rescuer was able to grab the deer and bring it safely to shore.

The rescue happened just after the lunch hour.

More details to follow.

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Photo: Contributed

Photo: Contributed