Iconic pet reindeer in Alaska falls mysteriously ill after someone tampers in his pen

An iconic reindeer so beloved that he has been in parades, featured on reality TV shows and visited by schoolchildren on field trips in Alaska’s largest city is fighting for his life after mysteriously falling ill after someone tampered with his pen.

Ever since, 8-year-old Star has had pneumonia, digestion issues, and rapid weight loss. Star’s owner, Albert Whitehead, has taken him to a veterinarian every other day to receive care and in hopes of finding a cause for the issues.

“I think we’ve done everything possible for him,” Whitehead said. Veterinarian Sabrieta Holland said the reindeer’s prognosis is “guarded.”

Star lives in a fenced-in pen attached to Whitehead’s house at the edge of downtown Anchorage. It’s been over 20 years since someone last tried to tamper with the enclosure where reindeer named Star have been kept for the last seven decades. Star is the seventh in a line of reindeer to carry that name.

In early January, someone cut a huge hole in the fencing to gain entrance, spending about five minutes inside with Star before taking off. What the person did in the pen is unknown, but Star began having stomach issues and dropping weight shortly after.

Then, on Feb. 20, Anchorage police found the friendly and trusting reindeer wandering around downtown and returned him home.

When Whitehead reviewed his security cameras, he found someone had used bolt cutters to remove padlocks off Star’s pen and an alley gate. Star followed the man out into the neighborhood, and the reindeer wound up alone downtown, familiar streets because that’s where Whitehead walks him.

The next night, the situation turned more serious.

Whitehead was watching the video feed when a man wearing a scarf over his face sprayed something from two different cans into Star’s pen and twice hit the reindeer in the face with an unknown substance.

Whitehead rushed outside to confront the man.

“I yelled at him to stop, ‘What the hell are you doing? What are you spraying on the animal? Don’t do that, quit that!’” Whitehead said.

The man replied: “I’m trying to help Star.”

“I have no idea what he meant by that,” said Whitehead, who suspects — based on the smells — that the sprays could have been a disinfectant and deodorizer.

Whitehead and police believe it was the same man from the prior night. It’s not known if the January tampering involved the same person.

“I don’t think the individual wanted to harm Star, but by his actions, he did,” Whitehead said.

Anchorage police posted the surveillance video on social media in hopes it would lead to the suspect’s identity. So far, no viable tips have come in, spokesperson Christopher Barraza said in an email.

Star’s pneumonia worsened, and a cough leads Whitehead to believe Star ate something harmful, perhaps while loose.

The pneumonia is likely due to him accidentally inhaling the chronic reflux or regurgitation of the contents in the largest of the reindeers’ four stomachs, Holland said. The sprays possibly also contributed.

It’s possible there’s a blockage, but the largest stomach of a reindeer is quite big and not easily obstructed, Holland said. However, ingested plastic bags causing chronic weight loss and indigestion problems are the most common foreign objects she’s seen in reindeer.

The next option would be surgery to look at the reindeer’s abdomen and possibly remove any blockage, but it’s generally a poor outcome, even in healthy deer, she said.

The bond between Whitehead and Star is “quite significant and precious,” Holland said.

“Albert’s daily life and reason for getting out for walks and such all are because of Star. And Star is really fond of Albert, too,” Holland said in a text. “It will be quite devastating for him if he loses Star.”

Anchorage pioneers Oro and Ivan Stewart started the reindeer tradition, bringing the deer they received from an Alaska Native herder to Anchorage in the 1950s. Whitehead took over as caretaker from his friends in 2002.

The average lifespan of a reindeer is about 15 years, but some Stars had long lives, like the first one who lived to 23. Others didn’t live as long, including the second Star, who was stolen, beaten to death and then butchered by a known Fairbanks meat thief. The third Star died after eating a plastic bag.

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Stephen Collopy

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