Story By: Jamie King, Sub-Editor: Jamie King, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire/@TOIDelhi

A deer stopped traffic on a busy motorway when it wandered onto the road near the city of Delhi in India. 

The deer which had an impressive pair of antlers was jokingly compared to one of Santas reindeer but it was actually identified as a Sambar deer.

Police confirmed that they had received a call about the deer panicking on the road and rushing through traffic risking causing an accident.

A police patrol then sealed off the traffic so that the deer could be chased off the road by other officers. This video shows one of the traffic police officers trying to stop traffic and at the same time get the animal to leave the road.

In the end it had to be captured by forestry officials who were called in to deal with the problem. A short while later the traffic was restarted and the traffic jam quickly cleared.

Picture Credits: AsiaWire/@TOIDelhi

They said they had been probably come onto the road from the nearby Yamuna floodplains. 

Faiyaz Khudsar was one of the people in charge of the park said: “It’s surprising that it ended up at the flyover. They’re generally found in woodland locations.”

He said there was a chance that it might have been kept in captivity and escaped.

The Sambar deer are noted for their large size and are native to the Indian subcontinent as well as southern China. They are listed as vulnerable because of severe hunting and loss of natural habitat.