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Odd Image On Ventnor-Margate Beach Tag Has Meaning

By Pat Loeb

VENTNOR, Nj. (CBS) -- If you're headed to Ventnor or Margate for the holiday, you may be surprised by the picture on their beach tag. It's a drawing of a white-tailed deer.

A deer may seem a strange image for a beach, but the tag commemorates the misadventure of an actual deer who somehow crossed the bay in the spring of 2011 and romped around Margate for the summer, giving literal meaning to descriptions of the seasonal crowd as wild.

Larry Hajna of the State Fish And Wildlife Division says it was a rare occurrence.

"Generally it takes something to startle them into crossing the water," Hajna says. "Because barrier islands in general do not provide the kind of habitat they like the most.

So true for this deer, who was shot and killed by Atlantic City Police when it went a little crazy there.

So the Ventnor-Margate beach decided to pay homage on its beach tag.

Perhaps someday we'll have a little metal deer to move around the Monopoly board.

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