Video of injured deer shot 13 times by Montreal-area police sparks outrage

Captured on video, it took more than 13 bullets and 30 minutes for Longueuil police officers to subdue the injured animal outside a Montreal-area park.

A disturbing video circulating online has animal-rights advocates outraged after an injured deer was shot multiple times by police in the Montreal suburb of Longueuil, Que.

It took more than 13 bullets and 30 minutes for Longueuil police officers to subdue the animal on Montreal’s south shore.

The incident, which unfolded on Feb. 19, was captured on video by residents who live near Longueuil’s Michel-Chartrand park.

Sauvetage Animal Rescue, a non-profit animal rights group, described the incident as unnecessary and inhumane in a post on social media.

“Repeated gunshots in a residential area. It was a bloodbath under the eyes of citizens scandalized by such barbarism,” the post read.

The group claims officers should have used a higher calibre weapon to euthanize deer — a common practice used by police, according to a source from the RCMP who Global News agreed not to identify.

Sauvetage Animal Rescue questions why officers were called to respond to the case and not the province’s wildlife ministry.

“How is it that two police officers, whose mandate is to protect and serve the population, are forced to intervene with wildlife? Aren’t there wildlife protection officers for this kind of intervention?”