Buck tangled in Christmas lights in Colorado serves as reminder to decorate safely

If you’re decorating for the holidays, please keep those festive lights out of reach to deer — especially bucks, Colorado officials said.

A buck recently got wrapped in Christmas lights in Salida, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said Wednesday on Twitter. The lights were tangled around its antlers and neck.

“Please decorate with wildlife in mind,” Parks and WIldlife said. “Keep them high off the ground. Wrap lights tightly around branches.”

Not only are the holiday lights a nuisance to the deer, they can also impact their eating, swallowing and vision, according to wildlife officials.

To cut the lights off the deer, wildlife officials had to tranquilize the animal.

“Tranquilizing can be hard on an animal and leave it vulnerable until the drug wears off,” Parks and Wildlife officials said. “Please don’t needlessly stress deer by decorating carelessly.”

Ropes, twine, Christmas lights and netting can all get tangled in antlers when the deer try to get food or water, McClatchy News reported.

Earlier this month, a buck was tangled in electrical wires for weeks in California, according to McClatchy News. The buck’s antlers had to be removed.

“This particular snarl of cables and wires may have originated with a home improvement project or construction site where someone failed to dispose of their garbage properly,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife said. “If you’re working on a project outdoors, please do the nearby wildlife a favor — take the time to remove materials that could harm an animal.”

In Colorado, a buck was completely tangled in the netting of a soccer goal until wildlife officials cut it loose, McClatchy News reported.

“It ripped down the steel goal posts and dragged it until Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers subdued it with a Taser and cut it free in a 10-minute ordeal,” officials said on Twitter. “Again we ask: Take down sports nets!”

This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Buck tangled in Christmas lights in Colorado serves as reminder to decorate safely."