|
|
From late April to early June, white-tailed does in North Carolina are giving birth. When left alone, fawns have an excellent chance of survival. Dappled and lacking scent, they are well camouflaged in the wild and usually remain undetected by predators. However, the biggest threat a fawn faces in its first few weeks of life is not a predator — at least not the four-legged kind. “Each year, fawns are taken out of the wild by well-intentioned individuals who mistakenly assume they are orphaned or have been abandoned,” said Wib Owen, section manager of the Wildlife Commission’s Division of Wildlife Management. “But it’s rare for a doe to abandon her fawn, although she will leave it for hours at a time, often not returning until after dark.” If a fawn has been removed from the wild, Owen advised taking the fawn back to where it was found — but only if the fawn has been in captivity for less than 36 hours, the maximum time when a doe usually will return for her fawn. After 36 hours, the fawn should not be returned to the wild but taken to a certified deer fawn rehabilitator. With the exception of trained wildlife rehabilitators, most people are ill-equipped to care for a fawn, so their misguided attempts to “save” an abandoned fawn typically do more harm than good, with the majority of captive fawns eventually dying. Besides being biologically irresponsible to remove a fawn from the wild, it is also illegal. Only certified deer fawn rehabilitators have permits to keep white-tailed deer in captivity. Click
here to obtain the phone number for the nearest deer rehabilitator or call the Wildlife Commission’s Division of Wildlife Management, (919) 733-7291. |