NORWOOD, Ohio -- A [b]deer[/b] scampered into the [b]Whole Foods[/b] store in Rookwood Commons in Norwood on Friday, forcing the business to close before the animal was tranquilized and carried out.
The 100-pound buck ran around the parking lot about 11 a.m. before winding up in front of the store's automatic sliding entrance doors.
As soon as they opened, he charged in, heading for the smell of baking chocolate chip cookies in the bakery section.
"He was hanging out next to the oven waiting for the cookies to come out," said Scott Hartman, the store's manager. "I think when he came in, he scared a lot of people, of course. It's not a normal thing."
In his rush to get to the bakery, the deer knocked over some cheese and cases of wine stacked on the floor, Norwood police said. [b]He also bumped into a customer, who suffered a minor injury but waved off medical care[/b] , said Sgt. Lou Pauly.
At some point, the deer knocked his antlers off.
He hung out in the bakery some 25 minutes until the SPCA Cincinnati showed up. The SPCA tranquilized the deer, who by then was shaking and scared, Hartman said.
Once the tranquilizer took effect, police and the SPCA carried the animal out -- without a cookie.
Whole Foods briefly closed to clean up but has reopened. Hartman said this is the third time he's run a Whole Foods location that's hosted a deer.
"If you have a store that is near woods and people keep building houses on woods and stuff, sometimes it happens," he said. "If you take away their homes, they have to go somewhere."
