Posted on 10/24/2001 5:52:26 AM PDT by Sokol
EL DORADO -- McDonald's restaurant workers found a dead deer under a sink in the men's bathroom, and police are trying to figure out how it got there.
The doe was on its back when found Sunday morning. Employees called officers about three hours after the restaurant opened.
Manager Jeff Moss told police he didn't know who brought the deer into the restaurant and said he couldn't figure out how someone got the deer inside without someone noticing. He also said surveillance video cameras didn't record the incident. Police took the video tape, which shows the front cash registers.
"I am taking this matter very seriously, and we are working with the authorities to identify those responsible," owner Larry Smith said in a statement Tuesday. "The safety of my restaurant, employees and customers are among my highest priorities and will never be compromised."
The police report did not say how big the deer was or how it was killed.
Captain Carl Blake said it appeared the doe had been run over.
"Whoever brought it in probably did it while the workers were there," he said. "There were no signs of forced entry."
Blake doesn't worry that other deer will show up at area restaurants.
"I think it was an isolated incident," he said.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission also is investigating. Commission director of communications Len Pitcock thinks it is a prank.
"A dead deer on the side of the road isn't an unusual sight, especially at this time of year," Pitcock said. "We think somebody could have hit the deer and then somebody decided to play a prank."
No mystery here. Move along.
Nothing to see here. Not related to 9/11. Move along. LOL
McBambi Sandwich with Fries! Sounds like McRoadkill to me!
Thank goodness.
NO! This happens ALL the time, that's why it's not in the newspapers, it's not news.
AMY SCHLESING ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
EL DORADO -- Ten days of gossip and rumor have transformed the carcass of a small doe dumped in a McDonald's bathroom into a 200-pound, 12-point buck, drawing national attention to a case that investigators say isn't worth a glance.
The deer's mysterious appearance Oct. 21 hasn't quite reached the Internet or mass e-mails of urban legend fame, but it dominates coffee shop chatter and water cooler discussions in this small town.
Thoughts and theories are the only leads investigators have. Trying to figure out who left the doe is now a wild goose chase consuming the days of El Dorado police Lt. Jim Wade.
"I've really got to put a stop to this," Wade said Wednesday about all the attention the case has drawn.
When employees opened the town's only McDonald's restaurant that Sunday morning, the deer was found on its back under a sink in the men's bathroom.
More like Bambi than a prize-winning buck, the dead yearling was so small that Wade said it could have been smuggled into the restaurant under a hunting coat.
Len Pitcock, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the deer appeared to have been run over by a car, its body scooped up from some roadside and then placed on the bathroom floor.
That the deer died in a collision with a car is neither a surprise nor a crime. Pitcock said there are at least 10 such accidents in Arkansas every day.
However, leaving the carcass in the restaurant could constitute misdemeanor criminal mischief. It also could be considered a violation of the Game and Fish Commission rules prohibiting wasting edible portions of wildlife. But Pitcock said even if the person responsible is found, it's unlikely he'll be charged.
While no one has come forward with the right explanation on how it got into the bathroom, the theories are flying.
Some believe a drunken driver hit the deer and hid it in the bathroom. Others think it is connected with an unsubstantiated report that two deer carcasses were found in a trash bin behind a fast food restaurant in Shreveport.
"The more you talk about something, the bigger it gets. This thing has been sensationalized on the local level," Wade said. "It's tied up my time and tied up the time of the local wildlife officers."
Every tip Wade has received begins with the words, "This is what I've heard ..." Those words are typically followed with, "I can't believe it wasn't true," he said.
William Schwab, chairman of the sociology department at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, said the proliferation of rumors about the deer is a sign of the times.
"Just like rumors, during periods of tense stress and uncertainty like we're in, people are grappling for meaning to make sense out of the world we live in," he said.
People grab on to quirky stories and pass them on, each person adding a little of their own reality, Schwab said. The alteration of the young doe to a strong buck made the story less sad for someone, changing it from the tragic death of a young deer to the peculiar death of the king of deer, he said.
"It's a damn good story," Schwab said.
From news reports and talk among residents, the tale spread to national press agencies. Reuters, an international news agency, called the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission on Wednesday after hearing of the deer's fate.
"It's really not that big of a deal as far as we're concerned," Pitcock said. "I think the media's making a bigger deal of this than anything else."
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