Deer acquires pumpkin head

Deer acquires pumpkin head

PALO ALTO, Calif. (UPI) -- A California animal-control officer found that removing a pumpkin head from a deer is easy, but you have to catch it first.

William Warrior was called in when Chia Wu found the terrified animal in a blackberry patch near her driveway in Palo Alto. The deer had apparently stuck its head into a pumpkin-shaped bucket, complete with smiling face, left over from Halloween and ended up with a helmet it could not shake off.

Wu told the San Jose Mercury News that she first tried convincing the deer to walk over to her so she could free it and found that real-life animals are not as trusting as the ones in Disney movies.

Warrior, ever ready for emergencies, arrived with a camera and took a picture. He then tried to capture the deer, which took off, running into trees and fences while the pumpkin head functioned as a protective helmet.

After he tracked the deer's movements, Warrior was able to get ahead of it and snare it. Then he removed the pumpkin and the animal headed back to the woods.

Warrior said the trapped deer was a first although he has occasionally encountered skunks with their heads stuck in Yoplait containers.