If you happened to have been driving down Interstate 45 in Webster on Wednesday and saw reindeer running across the freeway, you were not hallucinating. Two reindeer worked their way out of moving trailer and ran through rush hour traffic into a Park & Ride lot. Perhaps they were expressing a preference for mass transit.
In a move that would have made Marvin Zindler proud, 13 Eyewitness News obtained several of the 911 calls that began pouring in about the escaped ungulates.
“Hi, um… There are reindeer on Bay Area and 45, and they are just kind of running down the side of the road,” a male caller said. “They’re reindeer? Not regular deer?” asked an incredulous 911 dispatcher. “Reindeer!” the caller replied. “There’s a lady chasing them. Okay, there’s a guy approaching them right now.” To which the dispatcher replied “Older man with a beard?”
Webster Police, who were initially skeptical of the calls, dispatched “three or four” officers to the scene, police Chief Ray Smiley told the Houston Chronicle.
The reindeer, which belong to the Lollipops and Licorice Petting Zoo in Dickinson, were corralled by a petting zoo employee in the Park & Ride lot, the Chronicle reported. Both were unharmed by the ordeal and were back to appearing at events with Santa later in the week, according to Eyewitness News.
