MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Witnesses say a 10-point buck swam hundreds of yards into the ocean and drowned Sunday night.
Candace Stimpson says she and her husband witnessed the deer struggling in the ocean near the Sands Beach Club, and couldn't help but feel badly for the animal.
"That's not a very pleasant way to die," Stimpson says. "My husband saw it, he thought it was a pelican at first and then he got the binoculars and noticed that it was a buck."
Stimpson says she knew the deer was in trouble the moment she realized what it was. She says they called police for help, but was told animal control would not be coming to rescue the animal. The buck reportedly struggled for about 45 minutes and finally succumbed to the waves, washing up on the beach a few minutes later.
She says she was surprised no one came to save the deer, but according to wildlife experts police handled the call correctly. Officials with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources say it shouldn't come as a shock that help never arrived for the buck. They say it's a situation most animal control agencies won't allocate the time or resources to respond to.
SC DNR officials generally consider a wild animal drowning in the water just another example of nature taking it's course and weeding out animals unfit to pass on their genes.
But that explanation doesn't make the Stimpsons feel any better about what happened.
"It's human nature to try to help those in need, and if we see a beached whale, people want to help and they feel good about helping," Stimpson says. "When there's no help to be had, it's very sad."
DNR officials say they would have helped the animal were it trapped or pinned somewhere on land but in the situation near the Sands Beach Club it would have been too difficult.
So what do you think? Is this a case of nature taking it's course or should someone have helped? Share your opinion right now on the WMBF News Facebook page.
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Officials with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources say it shouldn't come as a shock that help never arrived for the buck. (Source: Candace Stimpson)
