An Oregon teen is charged with animal abuse and wildlife harassment after officials found a video on social media that showed him riding a mule deer buck.
The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife reported the video to Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife Troopers last Friday, according to Oregon State Police.
The video showed a "young adult male climbing onto, and eventually riding on the back of a live and exhausted mule deer buck while it was contained within a fenced enclosure," police said. Screenshots from the video show the man, in a black hooded sweatshirt, holding onto the buck's antlers.
The buck is heard grunting and bleating in the video, and after escaping the rider, repeatedly jumped into a linked fence, in an apparent effort to escape the enclosure, police said.
Troopers were able to identify two suspects, Jacob Belcher, 18, and another person who allegedly filmed the ride.
Belcher, from Riley, Oregon, was found at a rural ranch in Harney County, interviewed and arrested. He is being held at the Harney County Jail on charges of wildlife harassment and animal abuse, according to police.
The person accused of filming could face charges of aiding in a wildlife offense.
Investigators learned that the buck had entrapped itself in a fenced feeding enclosure before Belcher allegedly rode it. The animal was eventually freed, but its status is unknown, police said.
