A poor deer has been seen wandering through a New Jersey town with a plastic pumpkin stuck on its head — but, fortunately, this story has a gourd ending.
Photos from a backyard in Upper Saddle River in Bergen County show the animal standing with the leftover Halloween ornament completely covering its face, according to NJ.com.
A team of Tyco Animal Control officers from Ho-Ho-Kus then hooked up with members of the US Department of Agriculture and the state Division of Fish & Wildlife to rescue the young animal, police said.
“The deer has been found. Thank you. Pumpkin removed,” Upper Saddle River officials said in a Facebook post Tuesday morning.
“The deer is up and eating. Residents don’t always appreciate the deer but this poor thing was suffering greatly. Happy and relieved to have the story end well,” they added.
Upper Saddle River Police spokesman Edward Kane told The Post that his department “had been receiving calls from residents since the end of November reporting sighting of the deer. Unfortunately we were unable to locate the animal.
“Last week Mayor (Joanne) Minichetti received a call from a concerned resident which helped to narrow down a specific area that the deer frequented,” the detective lieutenant added in an email.
The newly liberated deer, which was tranquilized, will eventually be released back into the wild.