Conservation officers saved a deer from possibly starving after it was spotted running around Sooke with a Halloween trick-or-treat bucket stuck on its face.

Reports of a deer with a pink, plastic jack-o-lantern muzzling its face had been surfacing in the area for up to a week.

On Wednesday, a member of the public followed the deer around until conservation could catch up with it, sedate it and remove the bucket from its face.

While funny to look at, officers say the deer was likely rescued from what could have been a slow and painful death.

“I think it could’ve easily starved, dehydrated to death,” said Rick Dekelver of the BC Conservation Officer Service. “[The bucket] was like a muzzle up to its eyes, but it could still see.”

Once the deer came to after being tranquilized and freed, witnesses in the area reported seeing it eating and drinking frantically.

It’s unknown how the bucket came to be affixed to the animal’s face, but Dekelver said it’s not uncommon to see deer getting caught up in things like garden netting or hammocks.

He also praised community members who reported sightings of the deer to the province’s RAPP hotline, saying it made all the difference in tracking and freeing the animal.

“Whenever somebody sees an animal in distress it’s one of the feel-good things about our job,” he said. “We appreciated it, people were genuinely concerned.”

He said homeowners can help prevent deer entanglements by keeping their yards tidy and by storing items like hammocks or buckets in a shed or garage.

Anyone who spots an entangled animal or a human-wildlife conflict is urged to report it to the province’s RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277.