JOHNSTOWN — A deer ran amok at the Wells Nursing Home in Johnstown on Monday when it crashed through a window into the facility.
No injuries were suffered by residents or staff when the bewildered deer ran into the building, according to Nursing Home Administrator Neal Van Slyke.
“It actually sprinted across our property and ran through a window off of our rehab room,” he said on Tuesday. “It actually got in the building and the staff was able to go find it by shutting all the doors to the room. So the deer tried to find its way out by thrashing around in the room.”
Van Slyke said that after 10 minutes of the deer running amok in the room the animal charged through a second window and left the building.
“It was pretty crazy,” he said. “But fortunately, no one was in the room and there was just some equipment damage, nothing major. The window will have to be replaced, but other than that it was just kind of a freaky incident.”
When the deer broke into the nursing home, the facility called 911 and Johnstown police officers responded.
Johnstown Police Chief David Gilbo said the department believes the deer may have been injured by a vehicle before it crashed through the nursing home window.
“It may have thrown him off a little bit,” Gilbo said. “But we’re not sure, because once the deer was inside the building, the therapy room was like one large mirror. So he was basically trying to attack the mirror, thinking it was another deer.”
Gilbo said that when the deer left the facility it took off down Hamilton Street and jumped into a resident’s above-ground swimming pool. The deer eventually scurried off into a wooded area and disappeared.
“We had one like this before on Main Street where a deer went through the window of a business and it was the same thing,” Gilbo said. “There’s nothing we can do with wildlife being wildlife.”
Van Slyke said he was relieved that no one was hurt during the episode.
“It was really flukey,” he said. “We were able to watch a partial view of the incident on our security camera system and the deer just came out of nowhere. It sprinted down the street and just went right through the window. It’s one of those things you see on TV that you think could never happen and then it did. But fortunately nobody was hurt, which was the best thing.”
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