An unusual visitor made an appearance downtown Tuesday morning.
After apparently wandering around near Front Street and then around Queen and Bay, a 200 lb.deer made its way up to the University and Dundas area and laid down on a small patch of grass next to a medical building at Edward and Chestnut Streets, across from the bus terminal, around 7:30am.
The doe, about two or three-years-old, appeared relatively calm as rush hour traffic whizzed along Edward and a growing crowd of onlookers climbed up on cement planters to catch a better glimpse and snap some pictures.
“They don’t know where she came from,” Nancy Glanville told CityNews.ca. She took a break from work to watch the deer.
Police think the doe may have made its way into the downtown core from the Rouge Valley.
Officers taped off an area around the animal in an effort to keep it calm and Chestnut Street between Edward and Dundas was closed.
Authorities called officials from the Toronto Zoo in for help, as well as staff from other agencies, including the Humane Society, Toronto Animal Services and the Toronto Wildlife Centre
"Our number one interest is public safety, but we also don't want to injure the animal,” Sgt. Winston Bennett explained.
The deer was tranquilized, but officials also had to Taser it. Wildlife experts and police wrapped the animal in netting in order to move it to the Toronto Zoo. After being checked over, it should be released back into the wild.
Here are some pictures CityNews.ca web writer Shawne McKeown took around 8:30am.
It's hard to spot in the image below, but the deer is nestled on the right side of the hedge, beside the building.
