Hazen High School Teen Saves Deer from Retention Pond

Erik Johannessen didn't see what the big deal was. He just saved a deer after it became trapped in a retention pond last Sunday. That was all.

His friend Zach's father, John Quesnel, begged to differ. How often does a 15-year-old boy save a near 200-pound animal with some rope, a knife and sheer determination?

Quesnel was helping Zach and Erik, who were wrapping up their freshman year at Hazen High School and had just finished working on someone's lawn earlier in the day, unload some yard waste at Sunset Materials in Maple Valley and were leaving the facility when they spotted what looked like a pair of antlers bobbing in the water of a retention pond.

Quesnel describes the pond as about 50 yards wide and 8 feet deep, with large concrete sides surround the perimeter. "It was a pretty big retaining pond," he said

At first the antlers looked cool, and the trio started taking pictures, but they soon noticed the antlers were attached to an animal still moving. In fact, the deer was swimming circles in the pond trying to get out.

"I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, and the kids wanted to do something," Quesnel recalled. They ran back to the recycling center operator who attempted to help first by hauling a large log into the water to give the deer some footing to get out.

Instead, the deer got scared and swam in the other direction while the log floated away. 

Then, they tried to place concrete blocks in the water for the deer, but the water was still too deep. 

The operator had already been off for about 20 minutes trying to help and needed to return to work. They had called King County Animal Control, but on a Sunday, no one called back. While Quesnel recalled a sort of hopelessness setting in for the deer - he and Zach needed to leave for a soccer tournament - Erik didn't give up. 

He summoned his parents to the recycling center and asked them to bring rope. It was all just a matter of fact for Erik, who said for him, the decision to continue to help largely stemmed from the fact that the deer was very much alive. "I thought that if it wasn't dying quickly, we should just act fast and do what you can. Me and Zach freaked out and turned in to help mode trying to get it out."

Erik took the rope his parents brought, created a lasso, and took his father's advice to hide out of view behind the concrete wall waiting for the deer to swim by. Once it got close enough, he tossed the lasso and hooked the deer's antlers, which helped him pull it towards the pond's edge where Erik and his father were able to pick up the deer and pull it up over the edge. 

"As a kid, I'd done some lassoing in a church camp," he said. "I waited by the wall for it to come to me. It was pretty strong and almost dragged me in a few times. When it jumped off [the wall] it was really gassed. It fell to the ground, got up and started running away."

But Erik was worried the deer would hurt itself with the rope still attached. "I freaked out and grabbed it and cut the rope" with a knife.

And the deer bounded away into the wilderness. "I thought it was pretty cool that Erik fought to get the rope around it with his lasso and saved its life," Quesnel said.

Maybe Erik did too, but he admits not really thinking about it immediately afterwards. He had more lawns to service in the budding business he's started with Zach.