Doe! Deer stuck in waves rescued by Jersey surfers

BELMAR — A group of surfers helped a deer who ran into the ocean on Tuesday.

Drew Inman, 26, told the Asbury Park Press he was sitting on the beach near 13th Avenue when a group of surfers in rubber suits went into the chilly ocean water to rescue the deer about 25 yards from shore.

The water temperature was 58 degrees in both Sandy Hook and Atlantic City, according to New Jersey 101.5 Meteorologist Dan Zarrow, who said that is slightly above normal for early May.

It took rescuers all day to get a deer out of the water off Ortley Beach in October 2017.

State Division of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Larry Hajna at the time said said deer are very good swimmers and in 2017 a deer swam from Staten Island to Hudson County.

"There are many reports of deer swimming in the ocean, bays and rivers in less populated areas of the east coast, such as Maine," Hajna said.

He also said that deer tend to get stressed and flail more when crowds gather to watch them.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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