If you are looking for information on Sunny the fawn that is in risk of being killed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources please see our post on Sunny.
A few days ago I was sitting on my back porch enjoying watching my goldfish and koi swim in my backyard pond. I heard the cry of a baby fawn coming from my next door neighbor's house. I looked over and noticed it was traipsing through my neighbors backyard. I immediately jumped up and ran over there to see if my neighbor's dogs were out so I could protect it if they were. Thank goodness they were inside so I didn't have that to contend with as they have a very large Rhodesian Ridgeback.
I called my wife and told her of my finding and as I watched the young deer from a distance while she did a little research on the Internet. Everything she found said to leave the deer alone as the mother will some times leave the deer for a few hours and come back at dusk to retrieve it. I left the fawn alone and heard it throughout the night in the woods behind my house. I said to myself "I need to go check on the little guy". I walked to the back of my yard and looked into the woods and noticed a large doe standing there looking back at me. I didn't see the fawn but I heard it and knew it was close. I thought, wow! This is awesome, the mother had came to his rescue. I didn't hear him cry any more that night so all was well...
The following day at about 2:00pm I heard him cry again a few times. I immediately called my wife and told her I needed to help this little guy as it must have just been a doe passing the by and not it's mother. I got off the phone, ran to the computer and looked up the Kentucky Wildlife Association's phone number and called them. I explained that this fawn had been abandoned for over 24 hours and asked what I should do. She asked me for my county and looked up the numbers of rehabilitators in my local area. I wrote down the numbers and took off out the door. I borrowed a baby bottle from my neighbor because I knew this little guy was going to need food fast.
I walked into the woods and looked and looked and looked. The fawn had quit crying so it made it a bit more difficult to locate. I told myself "I am not leaving these woods until I find this little guy and help him". I knelt down and started scanning the woods and I noticed the white spots on his back. I got up and walked slowly over him as he lay lifeless and curled up into a ball. I slowly knelt down beside him and moved my hand toward his back and touched him trying to show that I was not wanting to harm him. He got spooked, jumped up ran about 20 feet and face planted and fell lifeless again to the ground. I walked over to him slowly again and did the same thing trying to reassure him. He jumped up once more ran about another 20 feet then slowly dropped to the ground as he was exhausted because he had been without food for so long. I realized his condition was extremely poor so I walked up to him and scooped him up. As I carried him back to the house his body was limp and all the the energy he could muster was to cry for his mother about 5 more times.
I walked up to the porch and told my daughter to fill the bottle with milk ( I know cows milk isn't the best thing for him but it was all I had and he needed something with sugar and fat for energy ) and heat it to body temperature. I laid the fawn on a dog bed we had on our porch and it stayed there lifelessly. My daughter came out and brought me the bottle with milk and I tested it on my arm to make sure it wasn't to hot, just as you would for a baby. I told my daughter to sit behind the deer and straddle it's head between her knees and to gently raise it's head straight up ( the poor deer didn't even have the energy left to hold up it's own head ). She did that and I gently opened the fawns mouth and put the bottle in. The fawn sat there lifelessly as it didn't have the energy to even suckle.
I decided it was time for me to take the next step in feeding it. I squeezed the bottle a little bit so when it would occasionally swallow it would start getting milk. I did this a few times and noticed that when it would swallow it would swallow five or six times in a row then quit. I decided to try and work with that process so I would put a little bit of milk in it's mouth and wait while watching it's throat. As soon as the fawn would swallow I would start squeezing the bottle so the milk would run out of the bottle and into it's mouth. This is when the process started working to feed him. He ate about 3-4 ounces of milk then it simply pulled it's head away from us and laid down. I didn't want to stress the deer as I felt it was done and needed to rest.
I called the numbers I was given from the Kentucky Wildlife Association and found a local vet clinic that has a relationship with a local sanctuary. They told me that in the condition the deer was in it needed to be there asap. My wife, daughter and I immediately jumped up, got the truck ready and ran out the door to take the fawn to the clinic. We carried the fawn on the dog bed it was laying on as to disturb it as little as possible in the moving process. I put the deer on my wife's lap then jumped in the drivers seat and took off. We started noticing he was looking around more on the way and becoming more alert and started moving his legs a little bit. I guess the milk we gave him had started to give him a bit more energy. We got to the veterinary clinic and turned the young fawn over to them as they have much better resources to help an animal in this condition than we could ever hope to have.
Note: Not all veterinary clinics have the capacity to take in wildlife. This clinic just happened to be one that works with one of the wildlife sanctuaries in our area. The sanctuary picked up the deer from the clinic where the deer will be rehabilited and released back into the wild. Call your local Wildlife Assocation to find rehabilitators in your area.
Another resource to find rehabilatators in your area is the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association
hi -
I'm not sure what help can be given on this, but we just found a baby deer in our yard this morning crying out, it appears to have been hit by a car. The little guy is alert and moving his head around, but just can't walk. We hope the mother comes for him tonight, but doubt he'll make it even if she does. A cop came this morning and did not want to shoot it, and no shelters around here will take it (we live in the philadelphia suburbs) since it's a leg injury and generally deer need to be put down. It's just awful having to listen to this poor animal cry out...
Is there ANYTHING we can do? Just put it out of its misery tomorrow? Awful.
Thanks in advance...
I found a young deer today still with its white spots trapped in a fenced in storm drain pond while walking the dog. This pond in located adjacent to a park path and housing development. It housed beavers last year, but the county hired trappers to remove them. Anyway, while walking around the fence to see the little deer probably waist high I got closer to where I could touch its nose thru the fence. My dog then startled it so it ran along the fence line to thicker brush. After my walk I returned to the house with my dog and then changed clothes to back out to help the deer escape from the enclosed pond.
I could here it calling out to its mother maaa maaa and it was trying to find an opening thru the fence. I saw a teenage buck and another adult doe 20 feet from the fence where the little deer was calling out, but not sure they were related. They scuttled off at my site.
There is a double gate door on one sideof the storm pond and a single gate door on the other side. I think it got in thru the double gates tiny opening somehow b/c there is a deer path running along side of it. I managed to get the deer to move to the side where the single gate door is where I first saw it while walking the dog. I got the fence door open and I then ran farther up from the deer to chase/point him in the direction of the open door which opened to the inside allowing the deer to flow out of its caged position. It then did what I expected and got out and ran down the hill to the woods and lay down to rest in shady brush near the pond storm drain that runs overflow pond water back into the creek. I will check on the little guy later on, but I hope it can eat vegetation by now and hook up with some other herd in the park if the mother doesn't come back. It was between knee to waist high and I'm around 5'10
Good morning,
I'm writing today about a baby fawn that was rescued by a woman in Ohio and transfered to a farm in Kentucky. I live in Cincinnati and am very concerned for this deer's safety as the ODNR wants her to tell them where the deer is so they can euthenize it and test it for disease! The community is outraged by the ODNR's actions and wants to see a happy ending to this story. I do not know how much information she has told the ODNR, but they are threatening to put her in jail.
Any information or help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. You can read to story at www.wlwt.com / or watch the video at
http://www.wlwt.com/video/19781398/index.html
Thank you so much,
Shannon
Hi,
Your site is a wonderful wealth of info for wild animals. I wish I came here first.
On Saturday, I was blessed with the sighting of a baby fawn just across the road on which we live.
He let out a small 'maa' type sound which drew my attention to him, as he wondered off into the woods apparently following his mom, whom I did not see. Then on Sunday afternoon, my daughters saw him again entering our woods behind our house and disappearing it the thick brush. He was alone and this alarmed me.
Yesterday, my wife found him curled up outside our front door so we immediately went and got as much information regarding wild fawns as we could on teh web. ALL recommendations told us 'hands off' and 'stay back'. 'Mom will be back for him that night'.
We had no reason to believe this to be untrue and cooperated.
We did place a bowl of milk nearby just in case he was very hungry, but he never went near it.
This morning I found him in the same position but he had died during the night. This is the most painful and heartbreaking day I can remember. It was if he came to us for help but we were told by the experts do not help him!
We fully understand that wildlife needs to proceed with as little human intervention as possible, but we might have been able to save this little fellow. Please spread the word that people need to be far more vigilant than we are being told to be. We are not experts but if this were to happen again, that little deer would get our help immediately.
kind regards,
Michael Gannon
Very seldom will any shelter take wildlife they are just not equipped to. I used the link located at the bottom of our deer post and navigated my way to a website that lists wildlife rehabilitators in PA. Please go directly to http://pawr.com/ and on the left hand side you will see "PA Rehabilitators by County". I'm sure you will find someone that can help the little deer out there.
Thank you for writing Shannon. I have posted your comment so the public can see it. I am not ignoring this comment by not actually posting a response to you but I need to do some research before I will be able to answer. I will be responding as soon as I can gather some info. Thank you very much.
Okay, I am quite a bit more educated on this however the news probably will not be what your looking for. Here is the thing, the deer has crossed over state lines which is illegal for the primary reason of possibly transmitting a disease from one area to another area. I have a feeling that regardless if the deer is returned to Ohio to a sanctuary the deer will still be collected by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to test it for disease. I don't understand why the deer must be euthanize except for possibly checking for rabies, however if that is it then quarantining the animal would be just as effective, however I'm not for sure what all they test for and why euthanization must be used for these tests. They only thing I can think of would be to try to locate local Ohio rehabilitators by going to http://www.nwrawildlife.org/home.asp and speak with them and ask if there is any way the animal could be returned to Ohio and keep there. This is a reach because I think that seeing as the deer has crossed State lines they will be very diligent in obtaining the deer for testing. The sad part of this the young deer will lose it's life, the good part of it if it did carry a disease to Kentucky it will be known and give the Kentucky Wildlife Association a heads up so they can prepare as best they can to combat it. I really hate this for this little deer but I can see the reason for wanting to make sure the deer is not sick and transmitting disease I just wish it didn't involve killing the animal. The thing is if the person who found it simply would have taken it to a rehabilitator in their Ohio area it would never have to face this. That is the reason for our site and I plan to write up an article on this exact thing to better educate our people wanting to help wildlife so they don't actually hurt them on accident. I'm sorry but it looks like there isn't much that can be done...
Thank you so much for your kind words Michael. We went through the same thing when we were trying to figure out what to do. It is important to wait for a bit to see if the mother will come back however a baby fawn can't last long without her. They need milk very often and they quickly wither away if they don't get it. Here at Pet Research all we want to do is help others become more aware of what we can do to help. There is a fine line of helping and hurting when we get involved with wildlife and often it's hard to decide what is best. I'm very sorry that the poor little guy perished but at least now you will be much more educated on what to do if you find another one in need. Thanks so much and we hope to see you back on the site.