October 30, 2008
Deer Injured in Downtown D.C.
We've gotten enough emails about this at this point that we can report that a deer was injured in downtown Washington today, somewhere on M Street NW between 16th and 17th Streets, near the National Geographic headquarters. It happened just before 1 p.m.; one witness told us that he saw the deer run into the side of a van at 16th and M, and several others said they saw the animal being tranquilized by animal control medics closer to 17th. We'll update when we get word on how the deer is doing. There are tons of deer in Rock Creek Park, but we can't remember the last time one popped up in the middle of downtown. There does seem to be an extraordinary amount of deer activity on the roads this fall: just this morning NBC4 did a story warning drivers to be extra vigilant about looking out for deer.
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I hope someone makes some venison jerky.
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And all this time I thought that National Geographic supported animal rights...
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National Geographic vs. Bambi?
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Didn't a deer bust into the Ralph Lauren store in Georgetown a year or so ago?
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With this incident added to this morning's NBC local and national deer stories... I think we're at Code Orange on the Deer Terror Alert Meter
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I wonder if IMGOPH has any juicy insider details for us.
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What happens if the deer gets into a Metro station and refuses to submit to a random search?
That's right. It'll just go to another station.
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Bush had endorsed him and he was running away from the White House.
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MMMMMMM DEER BURGERS!!!!!!!!!!
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Ghost ride?
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blittle: you know what's crazy? i was down in the cafeteria, which looks out on M street, when this apparently happened. but i saw (and heard) nothing.
there's nothing on the NGS intranet right now talking about this. does anyone else think it sounds crazy that a deer could get this far away from parkland in the middle of the day?
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bambi must've been a suicidal tendencies fan.
Doe!
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Don't you remember this story from almost three years ago to the day?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102602431.html
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Was Sarah Palin seen anywhere in the vicinity?
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IMGoph, i'm right across the street, and heard/saw nothing either. actually, at that time i was outside getting lunch . . . saw nothing then, too.
i miss all the exciting stuff.
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What do you call a deer with no arms, no legs, and no dick?
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No fuckin' eye dear.
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I would have more sympathy for the deer, but they constantly break the laws when the run downtown, I say bout time! Streets belong to the bipeds!
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Look at them headlights. Boom!
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Oh dear! Maybe it escaped from the Zoo!!
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oh deer!
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Maybe she (the deer) the was headed for Metro to try and get back to Addison Road.
http://www.wmata.com/images/deer.gif
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White tail deer are considered endangered in Guatemala. I offered them some of ours when I was last down there, hope no one minds.
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is that guy getting read to puke after the deer ran past?
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It doesn't surprise me. I've seen deer grazing near the golf course at Hains Point. This is rutting season and the deer are a little crazier and more erratic than usual, out roaming around, looking for love.
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IMGoph can you explain to me how deer get on Roosevelt Island. That has issued has baffled me for years. FREDTERP
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It may have gotten a gift card for its birthday and was looking for a place to spend it.
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Ah, yes. It's rutting season! That explains Monkeyrotica.
OOOOoooo EEE EEEE EEEEEEE AAAHHHH AHHH AHHH
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click here for a map.
ok, that's the shortest distance i can find that a deer would have to travel to get to NGS from a place you'd expect to find them. that's 4,000 feet. almost a mile through a busy downtown in the middle of the day? are we all effin' blind?
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Does anyone remember when a homeless man was pushing a shopping cart with a dying deer in it around Dupont Circle? I was lucky enough to catch it in person. He said that he found it near rock creek parkway and was bringing it home for a bbq. This was in 02 or 03. I know that the city paper had an pic and article about it but can't seem to find it.
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FREDTERP: they swim.
why the eff do you always sign your name in caps at the end of your posts? i swear, you're singlehandedly making me think that people at u of maryland are a little off.
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I happened to see a deer in my yard just last night.
Of course, I live in the burbs, and there are deer out here everywhere you look.
No natural hunters + plenty of flowers/gardens to munch on = out-of-control deer population!
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They could also walk over the pedestrian bridge to Roosevelt Island. Maybe they're going over there to take a dump on the statue of evil hunter Teddy.
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"Watch Out for Wildlife" has some good information about how to avoid hitting deer and other animals, and what to do if you have hit a deer. Check it out at watchoutforwildlife.com
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I've seen a deer mid-day running down the street in front of the Old Executive Office Building.
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These deer are getting out of control. Sure, every so often one gets a little nuts and goes downtown, freaking out the squares. But in the last five years or so they've started getting more and more used to eating people's flowers and trash, getting all up in our heez. Let's let some wolves loose in Rock Creek, huh? Even the score a little bit?
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Just wait until daylight savings time ends, humans are on a different schedule but deer are conducting business as usual. Deer Hit Hell, for those in the auto insurance biz...
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Hey deer: I live in the city because I hate nature. You aren't welcome here. You come to my home? I will kill you.
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Yet another good reason for the gun ban repeal. When's deer season begin?
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What if the poor thing escaped from a restaurant kitchen?
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from the NGS intranet this morning:
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INteresting notes:
A) Deer swim, somewhat unhappily, but effectively.
B) Tranquilizing a deer is not exaaaaaactly a science; the accuracy of the dart is marginal (unless they've gone to the souped-up-paintball-gun kind, which they may have in the city, it's a .38 blank firing a non-rifled feathered dart about .5" in diameter, so it can end up in a vein or critical organ). Also unless you know what deer you're going for (like in a scientific study,) you usually preload them with some "average deer size" amount of tranqqulizer which (based on weight) is again not high-precision. Also, people tend to strongly err on the side of "too much" vs. "too little" so that they don't get kicked to death by the deer.
Also, just dropping unconscious instantaneously has the usual unintended physical effects; all told you've got a solid few percent of deer that end up Forever Tranquilized.
C) On that weird footpath behind the French Embassy, heading towards the bridge you eventually end up over an idyllic glade where swear to God I once saw an 8 - point buck *fighting* a 6-point buck all National Geographic style while like 3 - 4 other teen deer gamboled about. The 8 point buck was *built*, too, and glossy, total Abercrombie deer.
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I remember about 3 years ago--I was living ina dorm at 1129 New Hampshire, back when Lulu's was still around and it was a Wednesday at about 4 am and I was outside taking a smoke break in the middle of writing a paper. And a deer walked across New Hampshire avenue (from L st) and down to M and then hung out in front of Lulu's for a solid 5-10 minutes. Throughout all this, there was a cabbie driving alongside it and making kissy sounds at it so that it would folow him into rock creek park.
I just thank god there was someone else there with me or I would have thought I was hallucinating. All that said, one of the strangest things I've seen in DC.....
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I've seen dead deer on the GW Parkway before, but the worst incident was on the Rock Creek Parkway back around Bush's first innaugural. There was the beginnings of a traffic jam, with cars stopped on the right just past the P Street bridge. We got to the head of the jam where we saw the following: a police car, a deer hobbling up the parkway with what looked like two broken legs, the police officer trying to catch the deer, a Mercedes with a smashed hood and shattered front window, and a woman in hysterics by the side of the road. And that's my dead deer story.
Moral of the story: never vote Republican.