Dressed in dark clothes and hiding behind a mask, a dark figure hopped over a six-foot-tall wooden fence and opened up Star VII’s cage to release perhaps the nation’s most famous reindeer into the dark Anchorage night at 6:30 on Feb. 20.
Star was found roaming the city’s streets by a member of the Anchorage Police Department later that evening. But the next night, a disguised figure visited Star’s enclosure and sprayed him with what his owner believed was air freshener.
Anchorage’s Star reindeer are the stuff of legend, serving as the unofficial mascots of the city and playing a vital role in parades, school field trips and cultural events — living the life of small-town celebrities. Like the Pope or the Dalai Lama, when one Star dies, another Star is named.
In the hours after Star VII was assaulted with air freshener, the reindeer feel deeply ill, and the Anchorage Police Department began its investigation into who might have sought to steal and harm the animal. No arrests have been made, and the police have posted security camera footage of an assailant in an effort to get tips about the case.
Albert Whitehead, 84, a retired technology entrepreneur and Star’s caretaker, said he did not know what the attacker who poisoned the reindeer looked like but noted that he had heard the attacker’s voice.
“Stop!” Mr. Whitehead screamed at the attacker, whom he caught on his security footage spraying his animal.
“I’m trying to help Star,” the assailant responded before walking away calmly, apparently unfazed by Mr. Whitehead’s promise that police officers were en route. The police never caught the mysterious sprayer.
The current Star, Star VII, is an 8-year-old male reindeer — the second Star under Mr. Whitehead’s care.
In the hours after Star was sprayed, Mr. Whitehead worried that Star VIII would have to be named in the coming weeks. Star stopped eating and lost a lot of weight until he was “nothing but skin and bones,” Mr. Whitehead said.
Star was diagnosed with pneumonia. He became so sick that Mr. Whitehead considered putting him down to take him out of him misery. But over the next few days, Star started to slowly recover. He now gets shots from a local veterinarian every two days, and his blood is being regularly tested.
“He is still touch and go,” Mr. Whitehead said. “We think we have the pneumonia under control now.”
Whether the person who set Star lose and the person who sprayed Star were the same person was also not clear. Anchorage police personnel did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
The police called the tampering with Star’s cage an attempted theft. Mr. Whitehead is not so sure. He believed that whoever altered Star’s cage was trying to set the reindeer free. But letting a reindeer out into a city alone on a winter night threatens its well-being, Mr. Whitehead said.
In the comment sections of posts on social media and in Facebook groups, Anchorage residents expressed dismay over the suffering local legend.
“Sad someone has been trying to hurt poor Star,” one person commented. Another person wrote an impassioned plea: “FIND THE CRIMINAL WHO KEEPS MESSING WITH STAR!!! STAR is very sweet, and would not make it in the wild.”
Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.