Early one morning there was a knock at the door. One of
my neighbors asked me, "you work for the conservation department,
right?" "You rescue animals, don't you?"
I told him that we basically did care for orphaned animals/birds, and
might be able to do a rescue. I asked him what kind of animal needed
help, and its location. He told me that, "a baby deer was stuck in
the mud along the creek by his house."
I told my husband, Chuck, about the stuck fawn. We decided that it
would be best to get some rescue directions before we did anything. He
leftwith our neighbor to check out the situation. After a couple of
phone calls, I reached Mike Olek and explained everything to him. He
gave me the following instructions:
- Slowly approach the animal and carefully lift him out of the mud.
- Check his legs for breaks or other injuries.
- Wash off all the mud, if we could.
- Using a plastic glove, check the inside of the fawn's mouth to see
if it was warm or cold. If it was cold, it hadn't been fed, and if
it was warm, he had eaten.
If everything was ok, we were to release the fawn in a safe place
nearby, but away from the creek, and check the area in 24 hours.
We proceeded to follow our instructions. Chuck managed to get down
the slippery banks of the creek, (so much rain lately) and he waded
across to the other side where the little fawn was. The fawn watched him
nervously. When Chuck reached the fawn, he carefully lifted him up and
out of the mud. The fawn (scared) began to get very vocal and to kick
its legs, (a good sign - the legs seemed to be ok). Chuck held the 4
little legs together and climbed back up out of the creek bed. Using the
glove, he checked the inside of his mouth. It was nice and warm. A
second good sign!
We were deciding where to relocate the fawn, when another neighbor,
who had been watching us, spotted the mother in the nearby field. She
was looking in the direction of the fawn’s cries. We put the fawn down
in the field under a bush. Immediately it stood up and ran like a bat
out of "you know what" to the spot where its mother had been.
We are hopeful that they are now together. The only regret I have is
that - I FORGOT MY CAMERA, - never again. From now on, I will wear it
around my neck!!!
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