Disturbing discovery of deer with arrow through head at Whitnall Park

 

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A cyclist in Whitnall Park spotted a deer with an arrow from a crossbow through its head. 

Collin Buth tells CBS 58 he was riding his bike when he spotted the doe. 

"My daughter and I ride mountain bikes a lot at the Alpha Trail and I stopped to take a video to send to her. That's when I noticed the deer actually had an arrow in its head. I just now recently looked at photos and saw it was coming out the front also," said Buth. 

Since then, several people have spotted the deer and reported it to staff at the Wehr Nature Center. 

We've last gotten reports of this deer being sighted in mid-February. We always report to the DNR conservation warden first," said Carly Hintz, Director, Wehr Nature Center. 

CBS 58 spoke with a conservation warden with the Department of Natural Resources about the situation. They say the arrow came from a crossbow. They are aware of the specific doe and are monitoring the situation. They also confirm they've received reports of illegal hunting activity in Whitnall Park. Now, many are left without answers, upset this ever happened in the first place. 

"I've never seen anything like that in Whitnall Park. It's unfortunate because it's such a nice area for nature watching. It seems like there is an illegal poaching problem in Milwaukee County parks," said Buth.   

"It's very disturbing to see that. I'm glad at least there is not a great degree of distress," said Hintz.  

CBS 58 also reached out to the Wisconsin Humane Society in an effort to find out what organization, if any, would be responsible for helping the deer should it need the arrow removed. We received the following statement: 

"Apparently, this deer has been spotted on several occasions over the past few months. The deer sounds to be very mobile and active. It’s a very odd situation as it sounds like a terrible injury at face value, but hasn’t seemed to impact the deer’s ability to survive. We’ve referred callers over the past few weeks to the DNR, as we do in most cases involving deer. We are unable to treat deer in-field or intake adult deer for rehabilitation because of both resource and regulatory issues," said VP Angela Speed.