A Deer Wore a Plastic Halloween Pumpkin on Its Head for 10 Days Before Rescuers Waded a River 4 Times to Catch It

WESTLAND, Mich., Nov. 11, 2026 — Halloween ended on Oct. 31. For one young deer outside Detroit, it lasted another 10 days.

Shortly after trick-or-treat night, the Detroit Animal Welfare Group started getting calls about a deer wandering around with a plastic pumpkin candy bucket stuck on its head, FOX 2 Detroit reported. Nobody could tell whether it was still able to eat or drink, and the sighting photos kept showing an animal that looked thinner and weaker.

The group asked the public for tips, got permission from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to tranquilize the deer and even called in drone pilots with heat-sensing cameras. For days, the deer stayed one step ahead.

Then on Sunday, someone spotted it in Hines Park. "It was not easy as we followed the deer through the woods and waded through a 20 foot wide river not once, not twice , but four times that was up to our thighs of freezing cold water," the rescuers posted, according to ClickOnDetroit.

They darted it, and the bucket came off. The deer everyone had been calling a doe turned out to be a young button buck, UPI reported. He was moderately dehydrated, so the team gave him fluids and put a tag in his ear, which the law requires after a tranquilizer so hunters know about the drug. Then they reversed the sedative.

"He was up and on his way," the group wrote. "He stopped for a few minutes to groom himself and look back to say thank you!"

The rescuers were in rougher shape. "We will finally get some sleep tonight even though we are cold, wet and smell like swamp," they posted.