Cops free deer caught in Mastic Beach fish pond

A deer crash-landed inside a small fenced fish pond at a Mastic Beach home Sunday, becoming trapped as the home's occupants looked on helplessly.

The animal was later freed by Suffolk County police.

Thomas Smith, who lives at the Huntington Drive home, said he was showering at about 11 a.m. when his wife, Patricia, began pounding on the bathroom door and shouting that there was a deer in their deck's pond.

"I almost had a heart attack," Smith said. "I thought she was kidding around - April Fool's, hello!"

But when he looked outside, he indeed saw a deer in a sunken fish pond in the deck that had been covered by a net. The deer had been trying to jump out, but couldn't clear the fence that surrounded the man-made pond, Smith said. Neighbors later told him they had seen a group of deer in the area minutes before the incident and one had jumped the six-foot fence into the Smiths' deck, knocking over the grill.

"Every time he jumped up, he'd fall backwards on his back," he said. "My wife was crying. She thought the deer was going to get hurt. I felt bad for it, too, because I really couldn't help it."

Suffolk County police said they responded to the home at 11:12 a.m. They eventually were able to grab the deer using an animal-control pole looped around the deer's neck. To release it, Smith said, they had to carry the now soaking-wet deer by its legs through his house and out the front door.

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Smith said the officers put the deer down on a neighbor's lawn, where it lay still for several minutes.

Then, as suddenly as it landed in the pond, it got up and bounded away, Smith said. He said he now plans to cover the pond with plywood for the winter.

Smith said he and his wife moved to Mastic Beach from Lindenhurst three months ago to be closer to nature - but not this close.

"Who would ever think there'd be a deer in the fish pond?" he said.