Deer Rescue on Black Sturgeon Lake, Kenora: Skaters Bring a Deer Ashore

A deer has gone down on smooth lake ice and cannot get its legs back under it. In this video, filmed on Black Sturgeon Lake near Kenora, Ontario, and posted by Steph Foidart on 12 December 2011, people on skates head out with a rope, reach the animal and help it back towards the shore.

Black Sturgeon Lake and Kenora, Ontario

Kenora is a city of about 15,000 people (14,967 at the 2021 census) on the Lake of the Woods in northwestern Ontario, close to the Manitoba border and about 208 km east of Winnipeg along the Trans-Canada Highway. Black Sturgeon Lake lies within the city limits, in the rural Jaffray Melick area, home to the Beauty Bay golf course.

The town began as Rat Portage, from the Ojibwe Wazhashk-Onigam, roughly “portage to the country of the muskrats.” It joined Ontario in 1889 after a boundary dispute with Manitoba, and in 1905 took the name Kenora, built from the first letters of Keewatin, Norman and Rat Portage.

Why a deer gets stuck on lake ice

Winters here are long and cold: a typical January runs from about −21°C at night to −11°C by day, and Kenora’s record low is −43.9°C, set on 20 January 1943. Early in the season, before snow covers it, new lake ice can be glass-smooth.

On that surface a deer’s hooves find little grip. Once its legs slide out, the animal struggles to stand, and each attempt to rise ends with another slip. The real goal of any rescue is the same: getting the deer off the bare ice and back to ground where it can stand and move normally.

The rescue on skates

The rescuers cross the ice on skates, which gives them control on a surface where the deer has none, and use a rope to help the animal along. The happy ending comes as the deer nears the shore, the one place where it can find its footing again.

Ice thickness: the numbers to know

Check the ice before stepping onto it. The Canadian Red Cross recommends at least 15 cm of clear ice for walking or skating alone, 20 cm for group skating or games and 25 cm for snowmobiles. Clear blue ice is the strongest; white, opaque snow ice is only about half as strong, and grey ice, which holds water, is unsafe. Check local ice reports first and stay off the ice at night.

Video: Deer rescue on Black Sturgeon Lake

Video: Deer Rescue on Black Sturgeon Lake, Kenora, Ontario (published by Steph Foidart). More winter animal rescues: A Moose in the Ice: The Loon Lake Rescue and Sylvie the Husky’s Ice Rescue.

Related reading

• Hovercraft Deer Rescue on Albert Lea Lake
• A Helicopter Helps a Deer Stranded on Ice
• A Young Moose Caught in a Gate: The Rescue Sequence

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