Paraguayan Presidential Guard Killed in Bizarre Attack

A member of the Paraguayan presidential guard was killed Monday in a deer attack. While serving a security detail at the presidential residence in the South American country, the military officer approached the axis deer, an animal native to India that was donated to the presidential residence and kept in a restricted area, the Guardian reports. "For unknown reasons he approached the area where the animals live and that’s where he was attacked. There has never been any such attack before," an infantry spokesperson tells local media. The 42-year-old's chest was run through with an antler after he apparently made a move that startled the deer, and he died at a military hospital. The attack was caught on surveillance video.

"On the security camera you can see [the sergeant] enter the sector where these animals are and he makes a movement [lifts a hand] that provokes the deer's reaction," the spokesperson says. Animals are routinely kept in a 24-acre garden area of the presidential residence, which is located in a residential part of the capital city of Asunción, but are not in routine contact with people, the BBC reports. Past animals kept there have included ostriches and ponies. Officials say the Ministry of the Environment was consulted before the deer were introduced into the gardens. (More Paraguay stories.)