Police Probe If Ramapo College Baseball Players Injured Deer On Campus

MAHWAH, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) - Police are investigating whether members of a New Jersey college's baseball team injured or killed a deer on campus.

Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli says his department is looking into a report that members of the Ramapo College baseball team were seen chasing deer with sticks outside the school's athletic center on March 24.

"Faculty member said the deer wasn't injured or killed, but simply that baseball players had been chasing the deer, some of them with sticks in their hand,"Batelli said.

A media source later reported they received an anonymous tip that the deer was either severely injured or killed.

Batelli told 1010 WINS the school's administration is cooperating with the investigation and has given names of baseball players as well as surveillance video.

"Their initial review of video tapes only show the players chasing the deer and not injuring it in any fashion," the police chief said. "So we don't have any credible, we don't have any specific information other than an anonymous tip that was given to another media source that the deer was injured."

Batelli says injuring any animal is a criminal offense.

The school posted on its Facebook page its investigation found deer were not touched. However, the school says the allegations are distressing if deer were disturbed and chased.

The school's Student Conduct Office is conducting a review to determine whether rules regarding wildlife were violated.

Interviews with baseball players as well as the team's coach have been scheduled, Batelli said.

The college says the presence of wildlife is what makes its campus special.

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