Deer Breaks Into New Jersey Elementary School

Published on December 5, 2023

TOMS RIVER, N.J.—A New Jersey elementary school had an unexpected visitor over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend: A deer jumped through a small window and knocked over items in a classroom before fleeing the building. A man walking his dog around 10 p.m. on Nov. 25 saw the young deer smash through a window at Cedar Grove Elementary School in Toms River, which is about 60 miles east of Philadelphia. The man notified police, and their subsequent search of the school was recorded by the officers’ bodycams. When officers encountered the deer in a stairwell, the animal—who police have nicknamed “Rudolph”—initially charged at them as it ran down a hallway. It then entered a classroom by opening a door that happened to be unlatched and jumped onto a bookshelf, scattering some items—but it didn’t cause any major damage....