By Charlie Powell, College of Veterinary Medicine
PULLMAN, Wash. – Unseasonably warm spring weather has resulted in four calls to the Washington State University veterinary hospital from citizens regarding fawns stumbled upon in the wild.
The advice remains the same each year: Leave them alone. Do not touch the fawns or pick them up. Take a photo if you must but do not disrupt the natural process.
While bunnies, fledgling owlets, squirrels, fawns and others may tug at our heart strings, they don’t usually need our help, according veterinarians at WSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Most young animals do not need human intervention unless they are obviously injured.
Some young will die; that is part of the natural life cycle. When they expire, they feed other animals or important microorganisms, and the remains add fertility to the soil, water and plants nearby.
Seeing a young animal like a fawn alone on the forest floor can become a great concern to some. They put themselves in the position of the young animal and they extend to the animal their feelings of what it would be like to be left alone.
Actually, fawns are left alone for long periods of time while does feed to maintain a milk supply. Does know where their fawns are and often can see them – and you – without being seen. Protectively, does convey to fawns to remain motionless no matter what happens. That’s why people can walk right up on them.
A young animal that jumps up and runs from a hungry predator becomes an instant target and soon a meal. If a doe sees a threat, she usually tries to draw the threat away from the young.
Wildlife are owned by the state in which they are found, and concerned citizens can find more information on their state’s game agency website.
Contact:
Charlie Powell, WSU College of Veterinary Medicine public information officer, cell or text 509-595-2017, cpowell@vetmed.wsu.edu