Toronto Police used a Taser to subdue a deer that was found wandering downtown this morning.

According to this CP24 report, "The deer had been sitting in a garden near Bay Street and University Avenue [sic] for several hours before police moved in to tranquilize and move the animal."

The deer was initially shot with a tranquilizer gun around 11:15 a.m. at Chestnut and Edward streets. But the scene became rather involved after members of Toronto's animal services department were joined by police (including the Emergency Task Force) on the takedown, possibly making matters worse for the deer. It ended up getting tasered.

I've seen deer in Toronto several times while riding my bike along the Don Trail, through the city's ravines. They usually appear just after dusk. And they're usually rather timid and wary of human contact.

How this deer ended up by Union Station is a mystery. The poor creature was probably lost and trying to find a spot of refuge until nightfall, when it could more easily make its way back to a ravine.

Now that the deer is captured, it will likely be released into a conservation area, if it doesn't end up at the Toronto Zoo. I wonder if the deer will sustain any further injuries, or a premature death, as a result of one officer's eagerness to fire his Taser.

Update: Video, from the Toronto Star:

Photo (of another, more fortunate deer) by Roger Cullman. See more photos from the scene this morning via the National Post.