Toronto in near lockdown... after deer sighting

Doe a deer, a female deer, running through Toronto's downtown streets...

"He's a wild animal, fairly big, fairly large," -- Toronto Police Sergeant Winston Bennet, with the vivid description of the suspect.

"With the police there and the SWAT, we thought it was a bomb threat," -- Construction workers in downtown Toronto reacting to the Police response in the downtown core.

Ah those big city folks, a little wildlife wanders into town and everyone is talking.

A deer, may perhaps be common to our Podunkian byways, worth hardly a second look, but drop one into the middle of the largest city in the land and it's as newsworthy as a sighting of Bigfoot.

Toronto's papers, radio stations and television outlets spent a good portion of the day today tracking the wandering path of one of Ontario's less urban of species.

In what seems to have been a full tactical alert by the Metro Toronto Police Service, uniformed patrol, SWAT members and perhaps maybe even the anti terrorism task force all converged on the downtown area, trying to corral the Big City Bambi. (video from CP 24 here)

Thus far the deer has managed to avoid the combined forces of law enforcement in the city, it's suspected that the deer, identified as a female came from the west (perhaps a vacationing Rupert deer?).

Clearly the sighting of deer in Toronto is a rare occasion, at least judging by a report from a Toronto resident who spotted one after coming out of a bar last week "We passed it and I looked in my rear view mirror,So I freaked out, I pulled over in the middle of the street." , as though that's the freakiest thing to be found on late night Toronto streets..

If Torontonian's are freaking out about the deer, put yourself in her hooves for a second, if anything is an alien environment it surely must be the streets of Toronto...

Considering the near panic of today, one wonders what happens when the bears come out of hibernation...

Globe and Mail-- Deer wanders into downtown Toronto
National Post-- Deer dashing through downtown Toronto
Toronto Sun-- Deer wanders into downtown Toronto
Toronto Star-- Frightened deer cornered in downtown core
CP 24-- Police watch deer after it wanders into downtown Toronto
CTV Toronto-- Deer spotted strolling through downtown Toronto
CBC Toronto-- Deer takes stroll through downtown Toronto

Update: 8:45 Bambi in the Big city was sedated lat in the Toronto morning

Toronto Sun-- Wandering deer captured in downtown Toronto