Trending Topics

Video: Wis. PD uses drone to herd deer to safety after they fell into lake

“I’m thinking ... I can just bring it around and do a cattle drive, but for deer and just use the [propeller wind] or the drone to motivate them,” Green Lake PD Detective Josh Ward

By Rhiannon Saegert
The Bradenton Herald

GREEN LAKE, Wis. — When three deer fell through thin ice at a Wisconsin lake, police used a drone to guide them out of the frigid water and onto the shore.

WBAY reported the deer, a doe and her two fawns, could be seen 200 yards from the shore in water 40 feet deep on March 15. Every attempt to climb out onto solid ice led them farther and farther from land.

According to a post from the Green Lake Police Department, after weighing their options, an officer flew a drone in windy conditions and used it to steer the skittish, exhausted animals toward the shore.

“I’m thinking, that drone, if I can do it, it’s easy enough that I can just bring it around and do a cattle drive, but for deer and just use the prop wash (propeller wind) or the drone to motivate them,” Detective Josh Ward told WBAY.

Police said it took teamwork between officers, the Green Lake County drone team and the local department of natural resources to herd two of the deer back into shallow water.

“However, the third doe did not follow suit, and the wind complicated the rescue efforts, pushing ice toward the city,” police said in the post.

Ward and several others herded the third deer toward the shore and used a rope to pull the doe out of the water, according to the police department.

Green Lake is about a 100-mile drive northwest from Milwaukee . Temperatures on March 15 ranged between the low 30s and mid 50s.

© 2025 The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.). Visit www.bradenton.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Trending
Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner told Congress that sanctuary policies block deputies from honoring ICE detainers for individuals who pose a threat to community safety
JCPenney called — they want their catalog back
Officer Simmonds died nearly a year after he was injured in the Watertown gunfight, but the 2016 film “Patriots Day” left him out — sparking calls for a more accurate portrayal
The Glendale Police Department used real-time technology to track the suspect following a second vehicle assault on the department’s secured entrance