Beloved Anchorage pet reindeer euthanized after someone tampered with pen, possibly poisoned him

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An iconic pet reindeer beloved by many in Alaska's largest city has been euthanized, just weeks after someone tampered with his cage and possibly poisoned him, his caretaker said Wednesday.

“I don’t have an answer as to why he had to be put down other than it relates back to what happened,” said Albert Whitehead, who cared not only for the 8-year-old reindeer named Star but also the decades-long tradition of having a reindeer in downtown Anchorage.

Star lived in a fenced-in pen attached to Whitehead’s house on a busy street at the edge of downtown. But starting in early January, someone began tampering with the friendly reindeer and his pen.

A person got inside the pen in January, and Star began losing weight. In February, someone cut the locks off the pen's gates and Star wandered downtown streets. The following night, someone sprayed some type of substance into Star's pen.

Earlier, Whitehead shied away from thinking that person might have poisoned Star, but now he doesn’t know.

Star had a persistent cough after the February incidents and then developed pneumonia. It was believed that contents from his stomach were coming up through his nose, and Star breathing that matter back into his lungs caused the pneumonia.

It’s possible Star ate a plastic bag when he was wandering downtown Anchorage, which could cause indigestion problems and chronic weight loss.

He was cured of pneumonia but developed a second bout.

“He started to recover and then all of a sudden reversed himself, and we decided it was not possible to save him,” Whitehead said. Star was euthanized Tuesday, the same day the necropsy was conducted.

Results won’t be known for a few weeks as to the possible cause of death or contributing factors, Whitehead said.

There has been a pet reindeer housed in downtown Anchorage since the 1950s. This particular Star was the seventh in the line to live with either Anchorage pioneers Oro and Ivan Stewart or Whitehead after he took over for the Stewarts in 2002.

Star, which had his own Facebook page, constantly got visitors to his pen, attracting tourists and locals alike. He got daily walks in downtown Anchorage, was featured in parades, was visited by schoolchildren and even appeared on reality TV shows.