By Charlotte Molitoris
Staff Writer
An unusual visitor outside South Village caused a stir on Saturday, Aug. 28, when an injured deer was spotted and reported to the campus police. Rumors began to swirl about what happened to the deer, especially because the scene was particularly bloody.
Freshman Allie Cichocki received a video taken by another student on the scene that alerted her to the deer. “I was obviously completely disgusted and I was so confused how that could even happen and how the blood could have been all over the place,” Cichocki says. “All of my friends obviously thought it was gross too.”
When asked about how the deer ended up outside South Village, Cichocki says, “We all kind of assumed that the deer saw itself in the reflection of a window and got scared and just started running around. Probably banging into all the windows and walls.”
At the time of the deer’s discovery, campus police were searching nearby woods for a missing student. Police assume the search disturbed the deer, who was spooked and ushered out of the woods toward campus.
Police Chief Pete Anders says, “I’m aware of two faculty/administrators who witnessed the herd run from the wooded area with one of the herd running into the building. They observed the group of deer jump a fence toward Brookwood with the exception of the wounded deer which ran toward the quad.”
Tahjir McKenzie, sophomore at Millersville University, witnessed the deceased deer when he was walking into South Village that afternoon. “I was surprised at first. I didn’t think it was real until I got closer. I was only with me and my friend and we didn’t really know what to say. It caught us off guard. I honestly think someone dragged the deer there,” McKenzie recalls.
While students have speculated as to how the deer got to South Village and how it died, police have confirmed that there was no foul play involved. Sergeant Bryan Cummins, the officer on the scene, states that when he arrived, “[the] deer was lying on the ground. It had apparently panicked for some reason. It had repeatedly run into the glass windows, severely injuring itself.” Cummins alerted the PA Game Commission, but by the time they arrived, the fawn had died.
Chief Anders explains that it’s not unusual to spot deer in Millersville as many deer call the area around campus home. “The woods near the villages have numerous deer,” Anders said. “We periodically have deer stray onto campus and on rare occasion one may become hurt. This most often occurs when deer are in rut, which is usually later in the fall. This is also the time we may see more deer hit by cars across the state.”
