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Associated Press
Oct. 15, 2003 08:35 AM


LINDEN, N.J. - The Planet Kidz clothing store just had one tough customer: A rowdy deer.

The full-grown, antlered buck wandered in, then wandered around Monday for more than an hour, showing its appreciation for the merchandise by knocking down shelves and trampling clothes.

A few customers were inside, but they quickly left and no one was hurt, said head manager Joseph Velelis.

He said he tried to calm the deer down by talking to it, but the animal panicked and charged toward the back of the store.

At one point, the deer, which weighed between 160 and 180 pounds, approached a full-length mirror and apparently thinking its reflection was another deer, jumped into the mirror front hooves first.

Linden authorities contacted the closest emergency unit with a tranquilizer gun, a Staten Island-based NYPD team.

Team members fired three tranquilizer darts, and the officers were able to subdue the animal and carry it out.

The deer was taken to the Linden animal shelter and was expected to be returned to the woods once the tranquilizers wore off.

The 10,000-square-foot Planet Kidz store is in a shopping center near a 26-acre forest. A Union County wildlife official said deer often get confused during this time of year, which is the height of mating season.

" They kind of get disoriented," said Karen Invillo, assistant director of the county' s Trailside Nature Science Center.