Deer Breaks Into T.J. Maxx Store On Staten Island
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A deer broke into a T.J. Maxx store in Staten Island overnight, creating a mess for employees to find Saturday morning.
An employee arriving to open the store around 8 a.m. discovered the front window smashed in and the deer running around inside.
"A deer ran through the front of T.J. Maxx and was kind of romping through the store," said Staten Island Borough President James Otto.
Staff from the Department of Environmental Conservation and police removed the deer from the store.
The store remained closed later Saturday with a cleanup cart and vacuum cleaner stationed near the entrance, the Staten Island Advance reported.
Elected officials on Staten Island have complained of a growing deer population. A 2014 aerial survey found 763 deer on Staten Island.
"We're waiting on the USDA to release the results of an environmental assessment that they've done, which is to detail in greater specificity the level of the deer problem and then wade through options," Otto said.
Just last week, Otto lashed out after a deer that was found in Brooklyn was sedated and brought to Staten Island.
Otto said the act was unacceptable, and took his frustrations to the NYC Parks Department.
"There was a time when Staten Island was the dumping ground for every ounce of garbage generated by the city of New York," Otto wrote in a letter to Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver. "Staten Island is a dumping ground no longer."
The Parks Department said in a statement the move was a one-time occurrence, "due to the lack of appropriate parkland in Brooklyn and the need for a humane response."
Officials have urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to come up with a deer-management plan.
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