Dogs kill deer at Gadsden Park

Staff at Noccalula Falls Park in Gadsden  are trying to determine how dogs got into the wildlife observatory and ran six deer to death Sunday.

There were eight deer in the enclosure; six died from the stress of being chased by the dogs and two escaped. Officials said those two escaped at a point where the fence is about 12 feet high. The buck that escaped had come back to the enclosure area Monday, and the staff plans to open the gate to let him get back inside. The doe was still on the loose in the park Monday afternoon.

Dogs chased 24 deer inside the enclosure until they died in October 2011 when three dogs dug under the fence to get at the deer. After that happened, the city put a cement barrier around the bottom of the enclosure to protect the deer.

In this case, the staff is not sure how the dogs got in. When police and animal control responded, a pit bull involved in the assault was so exhausted it just laid down. The other dog involved, some kind of mix, escaped into a “cave” or an opening between rocks in the enclosure.