Neighbors help rescue deer with trick-or-treat bucket stuck on face

Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A group of neighbors and a game warden in Pennsylvania rescued a deer spotted wandering the area for several days with a plastic trick-or-treat bucket stuck on its face.

Residents of the Emerald Lakes community, near Long Pond in Monroe County, said the deer was spotted multiple times over the course of about six days with the plastic bucket on its face.

Local resident Roja Rubi captured video of the deer and said she was able to toss some food into the bucket, but was not able to get close enough to try to pull the object from the animal's face.

Neighbor Robert Thompson said he spotted the deer outside his home just moments after seeing Rubi's Facebook post about the animal.

Thompson, Rubi and a group of neighbors used food to keep the deer in the area until a game warden arrived on the scene to tranquilize it.

"It was a whole group effort, where everyone just came together and pretty much saved that deer's life," Thompson told WNEP-TV. "It would have been a really horrible way for a deer to die."

Game warden Dillon Gruver said the deer already was starting to stand by the time he went to administer a reversal for the tranquilizer.

"That deer is definitely a fighter," Rubi said.