Wildlife crews in L.A. search for deer with bone lodged in mouth

LOS ANGELES – Wildlife officials are searching for an injured deer with a large bone lodged inside her mouth in a Hollywood Hills hiking area.

Affectionately known by locals as “Floppy,” the deer was first spotted with the bone in her mouth on Friday, Oct. 11 inside the fenced portion of the Hollywood Reservoir.

Hikers look forward to spotting the mother deer and her fawn in the wild, as she remains a popular fixture in the area. However, many are concerned her life is now at stake.

“It’s gnarly-looking,” said John Gilkey, a Hollywood Hills resident. “It’s a big, chunky bone, not just like a little bone stuck in his or her throat.”

Wildlife officials are concerned as it appears the protruding bone is preventing Floppy from eating or drinking while she remains distressed.

“It’s heartbreaking because they’re behind this chain-linked fence, and you want to help so bad, and I know the professionals need to do it, but so many people were trying to help,” said Arlene Pileggi, a Hollywood Hills resident.

Pileggi visits the reservoir daily and is worried that the deer’s chance of survival dwindles with every passing day.

Fish and wildlife experts closed down the popular Hollywood Hills walking trail on Monday to search for Floppy but couldn’t find her.

They don’t want hikers scaring her off. They’re hoping they can successfully take the animal in for medical examinations.

“Our biologist, who’s now been out there for a day and a half, said this is maybe the strangest thing he’s seen in a very long career of doing this kind of work,” said Tim Daly with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Daly said it’s unclear whether the bone belonged to a human or an animal but believes it is likely a femur bone.

“Hopefully, when we make progress on this and get that deer on the ground so we can go to work, we might get that answer as well as to how this thing ever got there in the first place,” he said.

Gilkey, a local hiker, said he will do his part to keep his distance from the distressed deer so that the experts can hopefully save her life.

“It’s terrible, but I think they’ll find her, he said. “[I hope for] a long and prosperous life for Floppy and her little fawn.”

Fish and wildlife crews will return to the Hollywood Hills walking trail on Wednesday morning to continue their search.

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