Deer Falls Into Wisconsin Church Basement

A six-point buck smashed through a window of a Janesville church over the weekend, fell into the basement and scrambled wildly to escape, as children attended Sunday school classes in nearby rooms.

No one was hurt, but the deer had to be euthanized because of severe injuries.

The deer apparently leaned against a window at Bethel Baptist Church on Sunday morning, causing the pane to give way. Somehow the animal fell into the basement library, even though the window was only a 2 feet high and 4 feet wide, the Janesville Gazette reported.

“We were surprised how he fit in there,” said Andrew Moffitt, a youth pastor at the church.

A man and his two daughters were checking out books when the animal crashed into the room. All three quickly left and closed the door behind them.

The deer was spurting blood as it crashed into bookshelves, trying to climb into the ceiling tiles to escape.

“It really does look like a murder scene down there. It really was hurt pretty bad,” Moffitt said.

A marksman used a tranquilizer dart to stun the buck, allowing a veterinarian to euthanize it. Moffitt said the deer appeared too severely wounded to save.

If the deer had crashed through any adjacent windows it would have ended up in a classroom where children were preparing to leave Sunday school classes, Moffitt said. Most of the library books have been contaminated and will have to be replaced, he added.