Just weeks after someone tampered with his cage and may have poisoned him, a famous pet reindeer that many people in Alaska’s largest city adore was put down, according to his caretaker on Wednesday.
Albert Whitehead, who cared for both the 8-year-old reindeer named Star and the decades-old custom of keeping a reindeer in downtown Anchorage, said, “I don’t have an answer as to why he had to be put down other than it relates back to what happened.”
On a bustling street on the outskirts of downtown, Star lived in a fenced-in pen that was connected to Whitehead’s home.
However, someone started to interfere with the amiable reindeer and his pen in early January.
In January, someone entered the pen, and Star started to lose weight.
Someone broke the locks on the pen’s gates in February, and Star started to walk the streets of downtown. Someone sprayed Star’s pen with some kind of material the next evening.
Whitehead didn’t think that someone could have poisoned Star before, but now he’s not sure.
Following the events in February, Star experienced a chronic cough before contracting pneumonia. The pneumonia was thought to have been brought on by Star inhaling the contents of his stomach back into his lungs through his nose.
Star might have eaten a plastic bag while exploring downtown Anchorage, which could lead to prolonged weight loss and digestive issues.
Although his pneumonia was treated, he had it again.
Whitehead stated, “He started to recover and then all of a sudden reversed himself, and we decided it was not possible to save him.” On Tuesday, the day of the necropsy, Star was put to death.
According to Whitehead, findings about the potential cause of death and related circumstances won’t be available for a few weeks.
Since the 1950s, a pet reindeer has been kept in downtown Anchorage. When he replaced the Stewarts in 2002, this specific Star was the eighth in line to reside with either Whitehead or Anchorage pioneers Oro and Ivan Stewart.
This information has been sourced from NBC News.
Leave a Comment