Beloved Community Reindeer Dies After Mysterious Assaults
Star, an eight-year-old reindeer who was revered by its Anchorage community, began to lose weight and exhibit startling health issues after the unidentified aggressor gained access to the animal's quarters in January, the Associated Press reported. Since the 1960s, it's been a tradition in Anchorage for the town to house a reindeer in the public center.On Feb. 20, the person returned and opened Star's cage and released the animal. Star's owner, Albert Whitehead, told Alaska Public Media that the reindeer was found wandering the streets of Anchorage after likely following the intruder from the stall. When he reviewed security footage, Whitehead was astonished to see the person using bolt cutters to free Star.
The following night, Whitehead was watching the surveillance footage when the person once again arrived, this time hitting Star twice in the face with an unknown substance. Whitehead left his house to confront the attacker. 'I yelled at him to stop, 'What the hell are you doing? What are you spraying on the animal? Don't do that, quit that!' ' Whitehead said. 'I'm trying to help Star,' the intruder allegedly replied.
'I have no idea what they meant by that,' Whitehead admitted.Following the Feb. 20 incident, Star began experiencing digestion issues and extreme weight loss and came down with pneumonia. On April 1, Whitehead made the difficult decision to euthanize Star. 'His health was so bad that he was not doing very well,' Whitehead said. 'He was suffering…Suddenly he relapsed, and some other issues developed. So [I] really don't know what caused him to die. The vets now are going through a necropsy with him, and we won't have a result of that for a couple [of] weeks.'
'I think [we did] everything possible for him,' Whitehead added.
No arrests have been made in the incident, but Anchorage police are circulating the security footage to see if any residents can identify the intruder. When asked if Anchorage's public reindeer tradition would continue after Star's death, Whitehead didn't mince words. 'Would you be willing to put another animal into that enclosure, knowing there's somebody out there that [was] doing this kind of stuff to him?' he asked.
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