Reindeer That Escaped From Mall Santa Captured By Police, Christmas Back On Schedule

Dashing through the snow, one reindeer from Santa's sleigh, escaped a Colorado mall, prancing all the way.

Well, reports of the prancing have not been confirmed, but a reindeer did escape from jolly old St. Nick outside the La Riva Mall in Dillon, Colo. last week, sending police on a wild deer chase before authorities finally captured the runaway almost 24 hours later.

While Santa was busy inside the mall visiting children and verifying who was naughty or nice for his annual list, one of his reindeer jumped out ofan enclosure and escaped, the Associated Press reports. From there, the reindeer swam across the Dillon Reservoir and wandered through town through the night and into the next day.

To lure Santa's runaway helper back to his trailer, Dillon Police Officer Bryan Wagner used another reindeer. “The other reindeer coming in did the trick, and the reindeer came right up to it, and we got the harness and were able to take him into custody from there,” Wagner told CBS4.

Now, that all the reindeer are back together they are reportedly "in preparation for the upcoming flight around the world on Christmas Eve," according to KYSL-FM.