UPDATE: Rescue Workers Save Deer Trapped In Canal

RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) – Rescue workers were finally able to save a deer that was struggling to say afloat in a canal in the Rancho Cordova area for about three hours on Tuesday.

Sacramento Metro Fire crews were called to the canal near White Rock Road and Sunrise Boulevard just after 11 Tuesday morning but failed in several attempts to rope in the buck from shore. The deer was finally rescued at about 2 p.m. when a Department of Fish and Game crew arrived in a boat, roped it around the neck and dragged it to the shore.

Once onshore, the deer was put into a truck and taken to a nearby wooded area. When it was released, it skipped off and appeared to be fine, according to CBS13's Maria Medina, who was on scene for the entire rescue.

Firefighters tried unsuccessfully to use a rope to lasso the deer, which was swimming from side to side of the canal trying to get out, but the canal was too steep to walk out and it kept falling back in.  

Several people concerned for the deer stayed on to watch the rescue efforts. "I was talking to it, saying 'Come on baby, you can do it'" said Sherryl Simonsen. "I didn't want anything to happen, so I just walking with him all the way down until we got kicked out."