We have had several phone calls to the Park this week about people "finding" fawns. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not touch or move a fawn. Momma does will choose a place they feel is safe to deliver. This place may be your back yard or the lawn in front of your school (that was actually one of our calls this week!!). After giving birth the mother doe will lick her newborn fawn completely clean, thus removing all of her scent from the little one. Newborn fawns do not have any scent of their own as a means of protection. It is their natural instinct to lie completely still, curled into a little ball, and not move. The mother will feed and leave her baby after giving birth. She IS near, she has not abandoned the fawn. She has gone off to eat, as she is now hungry and tired, and she WILL return. It is an extremely difficult task to hand-raise a fawn and not one that just anyone can undertake, not to mention how distressed the mother doe will be when she returns to her baby and it is not where she left it! In addition, there are a lot of legalities involved. If the fawn has truly been abandoned and is wandering around bellowing, then a call to Wildlife is probably in order. They can advise you as to what to do and may contact a local wildlife officer to come to assess the situation. Mother nature has many ways of protecting her own, some of which you may not fully understand-but do not intrude, she knows what she's doing!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment