By Daniela Desantis
ASUNCION (Reuters) -A Paraguayan military officer died after being attacked by a deer that ran an antler through his chest while he was serving in a security detail at the presidential residence in the capital Asuncion, officials said on Tuesday.
Infantry assistant sergeant Victor Isasi Flecha, 42, died on Monday night as a result of “piercing injuries” caused by the animal, said a statement from the military forces of the South American country.
The deer was an axis deer from India, which had been donated to the presidential residence, the Director of Wildlife at the Ministry of the Environment, Frederick Bauer, told media.
Infantry spokesman Victor Urdapilleta told Reuters that closed circuit cameras captured the moment when the soldier approached the deer and he was attacked.
He was declared dead in a military hospital. Urdapilleta said there was no history of a similar attack by animals routinely kept in the presidential residence, which have included ostriches and ponies in previous administrations.
The animals are kept in a restricted area and not in routine contact with visitors to the residence, which is located in a residential area of the capital city.
(Reporting by Daniela Desantis, writing by Hugh Bronstein, editing by Nick Macfie and Chizu Nomiyama)
