Wildlife: First Fawn of the rehab season, 1 by jylgaskin

jylgaskin wrote:
YOU people are just what I needed! When you do rehab work, you have to put up with a lot of death, just yesterday, I got a tiny raccoon that was too far gone to save and a bird so badly injured that I had to put it down. Then you get the ones that you CAN save and it's a great feeling to release them back into the wild. I have a whole herd of deer in the neighborhood that I can recognize on site.

You also have to put up with a lot of idiots. People who call and expect you to drive all the way across the county to pick things up. They don't understand that if I went to pick up every animal, I wouldn't be home enough to feed them. I figure that if I bear the expense of raising these animals (at least $150 for a deer), they can cover the cost of the gas to bring them to me. Other people get furious when you won't take an animal like a coyote or a raccoon (the only two, other than federally protected birds that I won't take). I did raccoons for years and believe me, there are only three things that a baby coon does...eat...scream...and poop. I've had enough of all. Not only that, but if you release them less than 5 miles away, they find their way home. We discovered this the hard way, when we ended up with a full-grown coon trying to get in bed with us. (We have a doggy door, he wasn't tame) It was ugly)

So anyway, it gets a little discouraging at times. Other times, it's such a blessing. How many people ever get to sit on the couch and watch TV with a baby red fox bouncing around the room?

I let the fawn out for awhile this afternoon when it wasn't raining. He explored the fenced in area near the house. He checked out all the baby squirrels the peacock and ate a few dandelions. If you look in the photo, he has the fuzz on his nose.