one of three endangered Key deer found hog-tied up in car euthanized
Friday, July 7, two thousand seventeen 7:49am
Two dudes were arrested July nine after a Monroe County deputy pulled over their car on Little Torch Key for having a tail light out. The deputy reported finding two doe in the back seat and the buck in the trunk. One of the deer had to be euthanized. [Photo from movie]
LITTLE TORCH KEY — One of three endangered Key deer Florida that authorities found tied up in a car has been euthanized.
Related News/Archive
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Robert Dube says a buck was put down Thursday morning because of a gam injury.
Two fellows were arrested early Sunday morning after a Monroe County deputy pulled over their car on Little Torch Key for having a tail light out. The deputy reported finding two doe in the back seat and the buck in the trunk. The doe appeared uninjured, but the buck was limping.
Tumani Anthony Younge, 23, with ties to Tamarac and Port St. Lucie, and Erik Yosmany Damas Acosta, Legal, of Miami Gardens, were on their way to camp in the Florida Keys on Sunday and dreamed to take pictures with the creatures, which were found tied, bleeding and distressed in the trunk and back seat of a Hyundai Sonata, according to a state investigation.
The guys accused of capturing the deer each face three felony and nine misdemeanor charges. They could still face extra federal charges.
The federally protected deer are found only in the Florida Keys, where their population is about 600-800.
The deputy found one deer in the trunk and two in the back seat. The animals, about the size of a large dog, had been hog-tied with twine.
They had wounds on their goes and bods and were fighting to get free. Blood had soaked into the Hyundai’s seat and was wiped on the roof of the trunk, and deer hair was powerfully scattered in both areas of the car, according to arrest reports.
“It’s very possible the (deer) in the trunk kicked out the taillight,” said Officer Bobby Dube, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “Whether he did or not, I don’t know. But that’s what the deputy stopped (the driver) for.”
Photographs released by the FWC display a large roll of twine in the back seat; Dube said a duo of loaves of bread were also in the car.
Damas Acosta told investigators that he was responsible for taking the wildlife and that Younge was asleep and didn’t know about it.
The arrest reports said the deer were fighting and making a lot of noise.
“There is no way the fellow in the passenger seat didn’t know there were three deer in that vehicle,” Dube said.
Damas Acosta told investigators they were on Big Pine Key, drove a bit off U.S. One toward some homes, fed the deer to bring them close, grabbed them, tied them up and put them in the car so he could photograph them.
Key deer are endangered and are protected by state and federal laws. It is illegal to feed them. Habitat for the vegetarian mammals includes wetlands, hammocks and even residential neighborhoods, according to the FWC website. They live in a petite section of the Keys, south of the seven-mile bridge, on islands from Big Pine Key to Sugarloaf Key.
“They are a tourist attraction and people will drive down Key Deer Boulevard on Big Pine (Key) just to see them grazing by the side of the road,” Dube said. “And they’re in the neighborhood and all over Big Pine Key. People learn to live with them. It’s a mutual relationship, I guess you can say.”
He said the incident is the talk of the Keys.
“It’s their babies,” Dube said. “Everybody was whirring about it. A lot of people take gladly to all of our critters in the Keys, whether it’s fish, lobster or our Key deer.”
After the animals were rescued, an officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took hair and tissue samples for evidence and species identification, the FWC said.
“They were untied, given water, and they let them go,” Dube said. “If you look at the pictures, their eyes were just total fear.”
Dube said in his twenty eight years working in the Keys and investigating wildlife poaching cases, “this is the very first time I’ve seen someone do this to Key deer, to tie them up. I would hate to speculate what they were going to do with them.”
Damas Acosta and Younge were still in jail Monday, with bonds of $57,000 each. They were both arrested on suspicion of wounding an endangered species, intentionally attempting to kill or wound an endangered species taking any deer out of season and animal cruelty.
The FWC confiscated their cellphones and the Hyundai. Lawyers for the studs could not be identified.
1 of three endangered Key deer found hog-tied up in car euthanized 07/07/17 [Last modified: Friday, July 7, two thousand seventeen 7:48am]
1 of three endangered Key deer found hog-tied up in car euthanized, Tampa Bay Times
one of three endangered Key deer found hog-tied up in car euthanized
Friday, July 7, two thousand seventeen 7:49am
Two dudes were arrested July nine after a Monroe County deputy pulled over their car on Little Torch Key for having a tail light out. The deputy reported finding two doe in the back seat and the buck in the trunk. One of the deer had to be euthanized. [Photo from movie]
LITTLE TORCH KEY — One of three endangered Key deer Florida that authorities found tied up in a car has been euthanized.
Related News/Archive
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Robert Dube says a buck was put down Thursday morning because of a gam injury.
Two guys were arrested early Sunday morning after a Monroe County deputy pulled over their car on Little Torch Key for having a tail light out. The deputy reported finding two doe in the back seat and the buck in the trunk. The doe appeared uninjured, but the buck was limping.
Tumani Anthony Younge, 23, with ties to Tamarac and Port St. Lucie, and Erik Yosmany Damas Acosta, Eighteen, of Miami Gardens, were on their way to camp in the Florida Keys on Sunday and desired to take pictures with the creatures, which were found tied, bleeding and distressed in the trunk and back seat of a Hyundai Sonata, according to a state investigation.
The boys accused of capturing the deer each face three felony and nine misdemeanor charges. They could still face extra federal charges.
The federally protected deer are found only in the Florida Keys, where their population is about 600-800.
The deputy found one deer in the trunk and two in the back seat. The animals, about the size of a large dog, had been hog-tied with twine.
They had wounds on their goes and bods and were fighting to get free. Blood had soaked into the Hyundai’s seat and was wiped on the roof of the trunk, and deer hair was strenuously scattered in both areas of the car, according to arrest reports.
“It’s very possible the (deer) in the trunk kicked out the taillight,” said Officer Bobby Dube, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “Whether he did or not, I don’t know. But that’s what the deputy stopped (the driver) for.”
Photographs released by the FWC display a large roll of twine in the back seat; Dube said a duo of loaves of bread were also in the car.
Damas Acosta told investigators that he was responsible for taking the wildlife and that Younge was asleep and didn’t know about it.
The arrest reports said the deer were fighting and making a lot of noise.
“There is no way the dude in the passenger seat didn’t know there were three deer in that vehicle,” Dube said.
Damas Acosta told investigators they were on Big Pine Key, drove a bit off U.S. One toward some homes, fed the deer to bring them close, grabbed them, tied them up and put them in the car so he could photograph them.
Key deer are endangered and are protected by state and federal laws. It is illegal to feed them. Habitat for the vegetarian mammals includes wetlands, hammocks and even residential neighborhoods, according to the FWC website. They live in a puny section of the Keys, south of the seven-mile bridge, on islands from Big Pine Key to Sugarloaf Key.
“They are a tourist attraction and people will drive down Key Deer Boulevard on Big Pine (Key) just to see them grazing by the side of the road,” Dube said. “And they’re in the neighborhood and all over Big Pine Key. People learn to live with them. It’s a mutual relationship, I guess you can say.”
He said the incident is the talk of the Keys.
“It’s their babies,” Dube said. “Everybody was whirring about it. A lot of people take gladly to all of our critters in the Keys, whether it’s fish, lobster or our Key deer.”
After the animals were rescued, an officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took hair and tissue samples for evidence and species identification, the FWC said.
“They were untied, given water, and they let them go,” Dube said. “If you look at the pictures, their eyes were just total fear.”
Dube said in his twenty eight years working in the Keys and investigating wildlife poaching cases, “this is the very first time I’ve seen someone do this to Key deer, to tie them up. I would hate to speculate what they were going to do with them.”
Damas Acosta and Younge were still in jail Monday, with bonds of $57,000 each. They were both arrested on suspicion of wounding an endangered species, intentionally attempting to kill or wound an endangered species taking any deer out of season and animal cruelty.
The FWC confiscated their cellphones and the Hyundai. Lawyers for the guys could not be identified.
1 of three endangered Key deer found hog-tied up in car euthanized 07/07/17 [Last modified: Friday, July 7, two thousand seventeen 7:48am]