NEW ULM, Minn. (WCCO) – Authorities are investigating a case of apparent animal cruelty after one of the bucks at the popular deer park at the Schell’s Brewing Company in New Ulm was found killed.
The New Ulm Police Department says officers were called out to the brewery at about 10 a.m. Friday. They found one of the male deer owned and tended to by the brewery dead.
Police said the buck had been killed by a person or persons within 36 hours of them finding its corpse.
Brewery president Ted Marti said someone likely intruded upon the enclosed deer pen sometime on Wednesday evening. The brewery has had a deer park since the 1880s.
There are two other deer inside the pen.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the case to contact them at 507-233-6750 or call the Department of Natural Resources’ poaching hotline at 1-800-652-9093.
Schell’s Brewery announced they are offering a reward to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest.
Deer feature prominently in Schell’s product packaging.