Police Station Gets Four-Legged Visitor

Call her Jane Doe.

The 111th Precinct received a surprise visitor on Monday after a Bayside resident made an anonymous drop-off at the precinct’s Northern Boulevard-based station.

“Some guy came in, dropped off a deer and said he found it on the street,” said Bill Conway, the precinct’s community affairs officer. “This is a first for the precinct.”

The precinct kept the deer in a kennel until a rehabilitator from WINNOR (Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation) could pick it up and take it to the nonprofit’s nature center in Massapequa, L.I.

“It’s going to be raised and, hopefully, released back into the wild,” said Cathy Horvath, who is one of WINNOR’s two rehabilitators.

Horvath said the animal was not wounded, but was “pretty much kidnapped.”

“Somebody thought it was a good idea to bring in a deer,” she said. “It was found in the bushes in front of their house.”

The doe, which was estimated to be three or four weeks old, only weighs eight pounds, but will likely grow to be 100 pounds, Horvath said.

Patrick Kwan, New York State director for the Humane Society of the United States, said it is not surprising that the deer was wandering around the five boroughs.

“Some people may not realize there is plenty of wildlife in New York City,” he said. “People may not realize that we are in a concrete jungle that is in a jungle, with plenty of animals.”

Kwan said city parks are not only home to deer, but also foxes, raccoons and opossums.

Paul Leonard contributed to this story.