‘Carrot the magic deer’ survives the bolt-in-the-head hunt in Kenora, Ontario.

Deer are often seen on the streets of Kenora, Ontario, and many inhabit the city’s urban core.

Some choose to stay in the same neighborhood — and become “friendly” with those who live there.

Deer have such a routine that Lee-Anne Carver has taken to naming a few. One is called Carrot. She first saw the deer about three years ago when he was being cared for by a male, whom she named Potato.

“And he had this little fawn with him, this orphan fawn, that the males often take orphan fawns under their wing, and it was Carrot, or would become Carrot.”

Carver said naming the deer after vegetables seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

“He was exceptional and he keeps coming back.”

“Carrot’s personality is so unique it’s impossible to misunderstand,” she said, noting that she’s a wildlife photographer who’s encountered hundreds of deer in her career.

Carver said that on December 9, her husband went out to see the deer and came back to their house crying, and said Carrot had an arrow in his head.

“I barely understood what he was saying,” she said.

“I went to see Carrot and was completely disturbed when I saw him.”

“From what hunters wrote to me, it’s a carbon arrow, a deadly arrow for hunting. It would come out of a crossbow.”

Carver said she believed the arrow came from above the deer, which means someone could have shot it from a window or patio, as it was shot in a residential area.

The City of Kenora changed its bylaws in 2013 to make it legal to offload a crossbow in urban areas of the city. The City of Thunder Bay has a similar bylaw which was passed in 2012.

“It strikes me as malicious, like an act of animal cruelty,” she said, noting that “the door was open for that to happen,” with the way city bylaws are written.

Carver said she was amazed at the influx of support for the stag, noting that she had received letters from as far away as Australia and South Africa.

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“People are watching it everywhere, and it’s something I couldn’t have predicted,” she said, thinking some local people might care about Carrot’s whereabouts when she set up a Facebook page. for him. She thought she would also be dismayed, as he might also represent a hunting problem in the city.

“On this one, it brought cultures together, hunters and non-hunters,” she said, “everyone had this unified voice for them, of compassion and caring.”

Carver said part of the challenge for Carrot’s recovery is that there is no large animal veterinarian in Kenora to deal with this type of issue.

“The consensus is that the bolt in the head, disturbing as it is, may in fact preserve one’s life at this point,” she said. “It appears to have cauterized the wound, sealed off the arteries. Removal could cause serious infection or death from bleeding.”

Carver said there was a risk in tranquilizing Carrot, which could lead to further complications that could also be life-threatening. She said that at this point, perhaps the best course of action was to leave the arrow in her head.

“We all have a natural tendency to withdraw it, but it’s not necessarily the best medicine,” she said, noting that there’s “nothing life-threatening, no signs of infection, it’s is just disturbing”.

“If this wound heals as we suspect and its antlers fall off, this arrow should slide easily,” Carver said, hoping that could happen within three months.

Carver said she spoke with a conservation officer in British Columbia who made the recommendation and noted that the arrow could slip once its antlers fell off.

She said the other problem is that even though Carrot is used to people, he is still a wild animal and if someone puts their arms between their antlers, it could be a dangerous situation for deer and humans.

Carver said she spoke to the owner of a local hunting store, who said cutting the arrow would also be a problem, as it was made of a carbon fiber, which could shatter and then infect Carrot.

“The key thing we can do right now is try to protect him with our voices. And this global voice speaking out for him is doing just that. It’s putting the spotlight on him, and people want him to be well.”