Daring deer swim miles from shore — then hitch a ride from troopers, Alaska video shows
Two exhausted deer were spotted swimming miles from a shoreline, battling the current in southeast Alaska, a video shows.
Then they hitched a ride with two wildlife troopers on their patrol boat.
The troopers first spotted the daring animals Oct. 10 in the Clarence Strait as they were returning to Ketchikan from Ernest Sound, Alaska Department of Public Safety spokesperson Tim DeSpain told McClatchy News in an email.
The animals were about 4 miles from the shore and were headed “not toward any particular landmass,” DeSpain said in the email.
They looked exhausted, stressed and confused, he said.
Trooper Kyle Feuge and Sgt. Mark Finses turned off the boat’s engine about 100 yards away from the animals.
To their surprise, the deer swam toward the side of the boat and then went up the swim step, DeSpain said. Finses caught the whole thing on camera.
“Out in the middle of Clarence. They were in rough shape. They were on their last leg,” one trooper is heard saying in the video.
After tending to the animals, they dropped them off on a beach within the strait.
“As they moved around, it appeared the blood started flowing to their legs again and they slowly started walking well and eventually trotted off, within about five minutes,” DeSpain said.
DeSpain said it’s common for deer to swim in Alaska waters, but it’s not common for them to swim toward boats and want to get in.
The Clarence Strait is about 126 miles long, according to Alaska Guide Co.
Ketchikan is about 300 miles south of Juneau.
This story was originally published October 18, 2023 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Daring deer swim miles from shore — then hitch a ride from troopers, Alaska video shows."
