Women attempt to rescue deer from ice in Preston

PRESTON, Conn. (WTNH) -- Two quick-thinking women in Preston set out to save an injured deer who they spotted struggling on some ice. They tried their best to save the animal, but as News 8 found out this story does not have a happy ending.

"He must have been walking on the ice and fell through," said Manny Cardoza.

Manny isn't the only one who saw the deer out the window of his Preston home. Next door Janis Debonee was watching it struggle too.

"He was just, ya know, laying on the ice and just flopping all around and then it started to melt underneath him," Janis said. "I thought he was going drown, I said I had to get out there and do something."

Janis grabbed a hammer and extension cord. Once Manny's 83-year-old wife spotted her she went out to help.

"So I went out there told her I'll lasso him with this because what she had wasn't going to help. So I did and we both pulled him into shore," said Jeannette Cardoza. "He was shivering bad. Poor thing. He had one arm looked like it was broken."

"I said what the hell are they doing out there and then I saw the deer and I said how'd they get that deer in," said Manny.

Though they were on land, it was very slippery and very close to the icy water. When the women were using the rope to pull the deer up they could have just as easily been pulled into the water.

After the women got the deer onto land they covered it in blankets and gave it lettuce and a bowl of water. However, DEEP had to put the deer down. The agency tells News 8 there are no licensed adult deer rehabilitators in the state and it was suffering.

"And I understood that, so I did go in the house and I heard the shot," Jeannette said.

A heartbreaking ending for an effort which even made the front page of the weekend paper. She says it took two big men to pull the deer up the hill to remove it.

"And put it in the truck," Jeannette said.

"And you guys, two little women, pulled it out of the water," said News 8's Tina Detelj.

"Ya know, when you have to do something you do it," Jeannette said.

And they'd do it again.