A small herd of mule deer was repeatedly seen at or close to a busy Park City intersection last week, spurring calls to law enforcement.
The Park City Police Department received at least two reports that appeared to be related to the same animals. The deer were seen at or just off the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive, including on Saturday evening.
The reports included:
• on Friday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m., when what was described as a deer herd was seen just steps from Kearns Boulevard in the area of the Monitor Drive intersection. The animals were next to a building, the police were told.
• on Wednesday, April 19 at 9:25 p.m., when what was described to the police as a “small pack of deer” was seen in the area of the Kearns Boulevard-Bonanza Drive intersection. The person who reported the case indicated the deer appeared to be readying to cross Kearns Boulevard or were crossing the street at the time. The police said the deer created a traffic hazard.
There were also deer seen just off the intersection on Saturday evening. At least nine animals were close to the road at approximately 7 p.m. They were grazing on grass on the southeast corner of the intersection, close to a business driveway.
There were not police officers at the scene at that time. The police when they respond to wildlife-related calls like the recent sightings typically attempt to ensure the animals are not posing a danger to drivers or other people.
The deer sightings last week continued a string of cases that stretched through much of the winter and into the spring. The heavy snowfall brought wildlife to lower elevations in search of grazing land. The animals are more likely to be seen at the lower elevations of the Park City area.
The Police Department received several other recent wildlife-related reports, including:
• on Sunday, April 23 at 1:42 p.m., the police were told of a deer carcass on a property on Larkspur Drive. The carcass was on the grass and could be seen when someone drove out of a driveway.
• on Monday, April 17 at 7:45 p.m., seven elk were reported to be close to S.R. 224 in the area of the McPolin Farm. The elk were approximately 150 feet up a hillside and descending at the time of the call, according to public police logs.