December 22nd 2023.
It was a sight that looked like Santa Claus's reindeer flying through the sky. But in Heber City, Utah, last Friday, the three deer wrapped in red cloth were actually being airlifted by a helicopter.
A video of the event shows the chopper slowly lifting one of the deer up from the woods, and then three deer being stacked in a straight vertical line. They spin in the air with snow-capped mountains in the background, and the chopper carefully lowers them to a grassy remote area.
Six men, armed with tools, approach the deer on the ground, one of which was seen with its eyes covered while being examined. After the assessment, one of the deer was helped up and trotted back into the wild.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources shared the footage on Tuesday, with the message that the deer were not Santa's flying reindeer. Rather they are captured and monitored each winter as their migration patterns are studied.
The deer are taken to a staging area where the agency performs health assessments before releasing them back into the wild. These efforts, the agency notes, help them to better understand deer migration patterns and behavior.
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