Deer Stuck in Plastic Bag Mistaken for ‘Masked Suspect’ Leading to Confused Calls to the Police

A New York deer has safely returned to the wild after a very short stint in police “custody,” all thanks to a case of mistaken identity.

The Ramapo Police Department said officers were dispatched after receiving reports of “a masked suspect roaming the area,” according to a Facebook post shared on Sunday, Dec. 28.

That suspect, however, turned out not to be a person at all.

“The subject was a deer disguising itself as a bag,” the department joked.

Police shared a video showing the animal lying in the snow with an oversized bag stuck over its head. As officers cautiously approached, one gently removed the bag, immediately tipping off the deer that the disguise was blown. The animal sprang to its feet and ran off into a nearby wooded area.

“Officers went into deer-tective mode, removed the disguise, and released the suspect back into the wild on its own hoof,” the department wrote.

This wasn’t the only recent case where an animal caused confusion.

Earlier this month, California Wildlife Encounters responded to reports of a mountain lion spotted in a drainage ditch near an airport in Sacramento, California. Rescue worker Ben Nuckolls told local outlet KCRA that what he actually found was a neglected French bulldog.

The puppy, about 6 months old and weighing roughly 18 pounds, did not have a microchip and was transferred to the Bradshaw Animal Shelter for a mandatory stray hold, according to the report. Officials noted that while the call turned out to be mistaken, mountain lions are common in that area along the Sacramento River, as stated by the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.

In another mix-up earlier this year, a concerned caller in Colorado contacted the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region after spotting what appeared to be an injured dog on the side of the road.

The shelter’s Animal Law Enforcement team quickly discovered the truth.

“It wasn’t injured. It wasn’t… alive,” the organization later wrote in a Facebook post. “It was a tiger. A stuffed tiger. Like the kind you win at a carnival.”

To prevent further alarm, the responding officer placed the stuffed animal in their truck, ensuring no other passersby mistook it for a real threat.