Deer leap to their deaths, stunning motorists USA TODAY
Aaron Young
1 day ago
© Courtesy of Catherine Veerhusen A herd of deer jumped the 80th Street SW bridge over Highway 30 in Cedar Rapids on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017.
DES MOINES — Catherine Veerhusen and her husband were driving northbound along the 80th Street SW bridge over U.S. Highway 30 in Cedar Rapids on Sunday when they spotted a herd of deer in front of them.
They had hoped the herd would somehow stay away from oncoming traffic while also not jumping over the bridge's west side.
But then the Atkins couple witnessed the lone buck sprint across to the opposite side of the bridge and vault over the bridge's sidewall to an estimated "20- to 30-foot" drop. The three does immediately followed — all leaping to their deaths. Veerhusen was horrified.
"I've never seen anything like this," she told the Des Moines Register on Tuesday. "No words, no words."
When Ron Lane, a conservation officer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Linn County, left the scene Tuesday afternoon, the three does remained but the buck was nowhere to be found.
He believes the herd was panicked and not familiar with the area.
"The bridge there is brand new," Lane said. "I'm guessing the deer aren't used to that, with all of the construction going on."
Additionally, Iowa is in the midst of its second shotgun deer season, which Lane thinks could be another contributor the herd's disorientation, with hunters pushing them back.
"It sounds like with they were just trying to run across and didn't know where to go," Lane said.
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Poster Comment:
Deer behaving like lemmings? Remarkable.