Exotic stag caught at Houston high school

A red stag wanders the grounds of Waltrip High School while Harris County Sheriff's deputies and wildlife officers attempt to tranquilize it, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in Houston. A red stag wanders the grounds of Waltrip High School while Harris County Sheriff's deputies and wildlife officers attempt to tranquilize it, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in Houston. Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Exotic stag caught at Houston high school 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

What started as a regular Sunday morning for Tamara and Joe Pearce quickly became a bizarre quest to capture an exotic red stag running loose on the campus of the nearby high school.

Joe Pearce was on his way to the store around 8 a.m. when he spotted a large antlered animal roaming near the entrance of Waltrip High School in Oak Forest. Pearce and his wife, who live adjacent to the school on Lou Ellen Lane, initially thought it was an elk.

Even as the couple puzzled over what exactly the animal was and how it got there, they did the only thing that made sense: Shutting the gates to the tall chain link fence surrounding the school's campus to contain the creature.

"We kind of corralled it," said Tamara Pearce. "I didn't want it going in the street and hurting anybody."

The situation consumed the rest of the Pearces' morning, as they contacted everyone from SPCA to the local homeowners association for help. Neighbors periodically dropped by, observing the animal as it galloped across the campus and charged at the fence.

By mid-afternoon, numerous agencies and two local deer farmers converged on the scene, teaming up to formulate a plan to capture the 450-pound, 5-year-old red stag native to regions of Europe and Asia.

Houston ISD police were able to contain the animal in a fenced-off area next to train tracks where a portable classroom sits. A representative from a private animal control organization brought a tranquilizing gun. The deer farmers and Harris County game warden Billy Lucio advised on how to best subdue the stag. The sheriff's office provided a trailer to transport the animal to the county's livestock division.

By 3 p.m., they moved in on the stag as it nervously trotted around its enclosure. At 3:15 p.m., the animal control representative shot the animal's right hind leg. Several minutes later, the stag ambled into some shade and lay down.

Minutes after loading the stag into the trailer, a train passed by, prompting sighs of relief – if it had come by any earlier, it would have spooked it, complicating the capture. Dale Mitchell, the school's principal, was thankful the incident happened on a weekend and while the school was under construction — the additional chain link fences across campus made trapping the stag easier.

"Not that it's ever a good situation, but at least it's contained, and it's not running in the neighborhood," Mitchell said. "It's actually the safest place for him to be."

Authorities do not know where the stag came from. It is possible it escaped from one of the exotic animal ranches scattered across the state that operate largely outside the purview of Texas law.

Since animals like red stags are not native to this country, few laws concerning them exist.

"It's an exotic animal, it's not a game animal," Lucio said. "There's no regulations to the possession of it or the transport of it."

Harris County will keep the stag in custody as they try to determine who owns it and if it damaged any property.

Phillip Thompson, who has raised deer in Hockley for more than a decade, said he'd be interested in buying or taking the stag if no one claims it, especially since animals are often put down in these situations.

"Red stags to me are among the most magnificent animals," he said.