Deer caught on video floating down North Saskatchewan River during ice breakup

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Some people watching the ice break up on the North Saskatchewan River saw quite the sight this past weekend.

A single deer was seen riding on an ice floe as the river broke. Since this past weekend footage shot by those watching the scene has gone viral on social media.

Brett Diemert, compliance area manager with the conservation officer service in the Prince Albert area, said the animals are generally not seen in such circumstances.

“If it happens in nature, I guess we normally don’t see them. So the times we do see something like that it is fairly unusual for sure,” he said.

Diemert added deer do regularly move across frozen bodies of water on a regular basis during the winter. Generally during this time of year, he explained the animals do tend to be out and about more as there is more food available.

In regards to how the deer may have ended up in the situation, Diemert said it may just simply be an issue of the deer being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“It could be just a timing issue of it happened to be there at that time when the ice went out,” he said.

Generally, Diemert explained deer will swim across the river on a regular basis when there is no ice or snow. He added in a situation like the one this past weekend an animal would likely have a difficult time making its way back to the shore.

Diemert said while it may be a difficult site to see, he doesn’t recommend people attempt to take action, especially given how much ice there was.

“We wouldn’t want the public to risk their life,” he said.

A second video posted to Facebook on the weekend showed a deer making its way out of the river during the ice breakup near Prince Albert. It’s unknown if it was the same deer.

With files from Ron Quaroni

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn