Star VII, Anchorage’s Famous Reindeer, Dies Weeks After Poisoning

U.S.|Star VII, Anchorage’s Famous Reindeer, Dies Weeks After Poisoning

Star VII, the famous reindeer who led parades and cultural events as the unofficial mascot of Anchorage, Alaska, was euthanized on Tuesday, just weeks after a masked figure sprayed the animal with a mysterious liquid before vanishing into the night.

Under the cloak of darkness on Feb. 20, someone jumped into Star’s enclosure and let the 8-year-old male reindeer out onto the streets of Anchorage, security footage showed. The next night, after the police found the animal and returned him to his owner, Albert Whitehead, another masked figure approached the reindeer and sprayed him with an unknown substance.

The Anchorage Police Department said on Wednesday that it did not have any leads into the person or persons responsible. The department said that it assumed that the person who let Star out of the enclosure was the same person who later sprayed him with the liquid. A detective is working on the case and is seeking the public’s help, the department said.

In the days after Star VII was attacked, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and became so sick that Mr. Whitehead, 84, considered putting him down to take him out of him misery. But a treatment program from a veterinary clinic helped Star’s condition improve, and Mr. Whitehead had believed Star could make a full recovery.

Then, about two weeks later, Star’s condition deteriorated again.

“His ruminate started going back out through his nostrils,” Mr. Whitehead said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Something is going on in the stomach. You don’t know what that is.”

Unlike cows, “almost 100 percent” of reindeer do not survive stomach surgery, Mr. Whitehead said.

He said he would not know the cause of death until a necropsy has concluded. He said he thought that the liquid that was sprayed at his animal was air freshener, but has not confirmed that.

“We feel extremely sad,” Mr. Whitehead said. “They hurt an unknown animal for some unknown reason. I just don’t understand why people would do that.”

Star VII was, as his name suggests, the seventh such unofficial Anchorage mascot. Normally, as with the pope or the Dalai Lama, when one Star dies, another Star is named. But Mr. Whitehead, who was also the main caretaker for Star VI, said he was not comfortable naming a Star VIII.