Lincoln firefighters are trained to rescue people from all sorts of hazardous situations, not just fire — but last week, they used their skills with another species.
Someone walking on the conservation trails around Farrar Pond on October 2 called police to report that a deer was stuck in the mud near the pond on the south side. The caller tried to free the animal, but the deep mud up to the deer’s belly and the cold water were too much, said Lincoln Fire Chief Brian Young.
After arriving at a trail head near Hemlock Circle, firefighters Mike Gassiraro and Christopher Doeg walked about half a mile to the pond, where they donned water rescue suits, went into the water, and pulled the deer out of the water gently to dry land. “The deer was tired and cold but appeared not to be injured, so they left it to rest,” Young said. “We aren’t always able to rescue animals, but given the location and condition of this deer, we were able to safely bring it to shore.”
As firefighters were leaving, Mass. Environmental Police officers arrived to assess the deer’s condition. Officers “observed the buck as it swam across a small cove at Farrar’s Pond, then made its way onto the opposite shoreline and disappeared into tall grass,” according to a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Apparently the animal had not completely lost its taste for water.
Firefighters Mike Gassiraro and Christopher Doeg bring the deer to dry land at Farrar Pond.