The Bloemendaal football club (BVC) was surprised this morning by a visit from two deer that got stuck in the nets. Tjerk de Blaauw, responsible for the maintenance of the fields at the club, received a phone call from a local resident who had seen the animals struggling. “I immediately went to look and luckily four police officers had come to free the animals.”
One deer was caught in the net of a goal and the other deer in a ball catcher, the net behind the goal. Tjerk de Blaauw immediately took cloths from the canteen to cover the deer. “Those cops were brave. So they first put a cloth over that animal, then an officer lay down on the animal to keep it quiet. The other officer held his head and the third officer went cut the rope.”
After the first deer was freed, it did not immediately run away. “I gave it a tap on its ass, but it stayed there. I think the animal was very tired. Then the officer gave it another two taps and then it came to life again and ran away.”
The other deer was freed in the same way. “They escaped well,” says De Blaauw. And that is a relief. It is increasingly common for deer to become entangled in the nets. “It has happened more often in the last three years. The deer population is just too large. The deer are everywhere.”
Injury
The nets of the goal and the ball catcher must be replaced. The field was also damaged. “Those deer have been tossing there, so that grass is broken. And they have so much strength that the goal has also been disrupted. That must be restored.” De Blaauw will do this itself as much as possible to save costs. “Otherwise we will soon lose a thousand euros.”