Deer found at Hollywood Reservoir with bone in mouth; Wildlife officials are trying to help

LOS ANGELES – A female deer was recently spotted near Hollywood Reservoir with a bone in her mouth. Now the officials are trying to help the animal.

By all accounts, it's a terrible situation for the deer, and for California fish and wildlife biologist Kevin Howells, “this is the first time I've seen anything like this.”

Howells believes the bone is a femur, but cannot say which animal. Deer are typically grazers, or “browsers” as Howells calls them, but he says they will chew on any bones they might find.

“They rarely chew on bones and try to extract minerals from the bones that they don’t get (elsewhere) in their diet.”

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Howells said the last time he saw the deer was between two trees near the reservoir entrance. That was on Monday. Howells said the area is an incredibly difficult place to shoot a deer “because it takes about 10 minutes for the drug to take effect … enough time for the deer to scurry away and hide.”

Howells said: “She’s wounded. She is injured. She feels vulnerable. “She's malnourished.” Basically, he said, she's scared.

Private animal rescuer Austin Muhs said he was “very, very worried…very worried.”

He got involved after seeing a picture of the deer on social media. He said what Howells is trying to do “is very delicate and the deer is already in a very bad place as far as emaciation and things like that.”

In the meantime, Howells has been keeping an eye out for the deer and says he's “just hoping to get a chance to chemically immobilize her, examine the wounds and try to remove the bone if possible.”