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Harlem deer to be put to death after leaving park, greeting neighbors – Metro US

Harlem deer to be put to death after leaving park, greeting neighbors

A one-antlered deer that had taken up residence in a Harlem park and captured the hearts of New Yorkers will be exterminated, according to reports.

The white-tailed buck, who might have wandered over from Long Island due to ahormone frenzy during mating season, was apprehended after he left Jackie Robinson Park and playfully hopped into the lawn of a neighboring housing complex early on Thursday.

That’s when his place on “death row” was confirmed.

The police tranquilized and captured the deer, “after learning it was trapped within a fenced-off area in a residential development and posing a risk to public safety,” Natalie Grybauskas, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio,told The New York Times.

“The deer was brought to Animal Care & Control. We do not intend to release the deer back to the busy and dense borough of Manhattan,” Grybauskastold Gothamist.

RELATED:Upper Manhattan fawns over sighting of one-antlered deer

On Wednesday, the city said it planned to leave the deer alone “unless and until it is gravely injured or presenting a risk to humans,”Gothamist reported.

“In almost all situations, it’s best to leave the deer alone, for the safety of the deer and the public,” Sean Mahar , a spokesman for the conservation department, told The New York Times on Wednesday.

State regulationsprohibit relocating deer across county lines unless the move is for scientific purposes.

“At the present time, the Environmental Conservation Law §11-0505 (3) prohibits the trapping of deer except under special permit issued by the DEC for scientific purposes,” according to

The move is very stressful and many deer do not survive for very long after, the state Environmental Conservation Department said.

The Environmental Conservation Department clarified in an email to Metro:

“Although relocation is often ineffective and discouraged, in this case the state presented options beyond euthanization to the City for them to consider in addressing this white-tailed deer. The state does not ban relocation, and will work with municipalities on a case by case basis to offer guidance and assistance in addressing nuisance wildlife. Ultimately it is up to a municipality to implement a management decision for a nuisance species.”

The deer first made his appearance earlier this month moseying around the park entrance at 145th Street and Edgecombe Avenue. For about two weeks, he stayed in the 10-block-long strip of woods.

New Yorkers were enchanted taking photos and feeding the woodland creaturecarrots, apples and other treats.

“If people hadn’t fed him, the deer might have left,” Grybauskas said, The New York Times reported. “He might have packed up and gone back to the Bronx or wherever he came from, if people hadn’t fed him and kind of loved him.”

One Twitter user had a different idea: