WVDNR investigating ‘Hank’s’ situation as 911 calls are released

By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources says the situation involving Hank, the deer from Hollywood, remains under investigation. 

As RealWV reported last week, Hank was raised by community members in the rural town of Hollywood in Monroe County, WV. They said he was abandoned as an infant. He frequently played with dogs, posed for pictures with children, and even went inside people’s homes like a pet would. 

But one day last week as rut season hit, Hank strayed from his rural Monroe County home and wound up near Kroger in neighboring Greenbrier County. Law enforcement was called to the scene, and Hank never made it home. 

The Huffman family, who acted as his caretakers in Hollywood, says Hank was taken from the scene and later put down. Citing an ongoing investigation, DNR has yet to comment on the situation. 

RealWV filed a Freedom of Information request with the Greenbrier County Emergency Communications Center seeking access to any 911 calls made about Hank’s visit to Kroger. It turned up multiple calls. While some locals speculated Hank was injured or causing injuries to others in the Kroger incident, the 911 calls seem to tell a different story.

The 911 Calls

“There is a pet deer in the Kroger parking lot,” the caller said on the non-emergency line, “with a painted antler and a collar and it’s head-butting people.” 

“Is anybody injured?” the dispatcher asks. 

“No, nobody’s injured,” the caller said. “He’s very, very docile. He needs to be relocated and not shot, please.” 

The caller then repeated this information a second time, saying no one was injured and the deer just needed to be relocated. 

“Do you know how the deer got there?” the dispatcher asked. 

“No, no clue,” the caller replied. 

The dispatcher then put out the word to law enforcement saying, “Caller is advising there is a deer with painted antlers and a collar on. They’re advising it’s a pet. It’s in the parking lot head-butting people.” 

An officer replied that it should be referred to DNR as it’s a wildlife issue.

Several calls between DNR, dispatch, and local law enforcement ensued as officers tried to determine if the deer posed a threat and should be killed on the spot or not. 

According to Suzanne Huffman, who rescued Hank when he was a baby, her husband arrived on the scene during this time and sedated Hank in order to take it back to Monroe County. He was not allowed to do so by law enforcement. 

Eyewitnesses who appear on the 911 calls contacted RealWV to corroborate their experience. They also shared that investigators who contacted them seemed to be honing in on how Hank came to be sedated, as that would ordinarily be the course of action taken by wildlife officials but not private citizens.

By the final dispatch message, the operator said, “DNR has that animal.” 

While the Huffmans saw Hank being taken away, they didn’t know what happened next. A subsequent call to a regional DNR office last week led them to believe Hank was killed. They asked if they could have his body to bury on their farm, but they say they were told no.

RealWV asked DNR for confirmation but, again, was told the matter remains under investigation. 

Stay tuned to RealWV for updates.