‘Rescue’ that fawn? Not just bad idea – it’s illegal

A well-meaning person finds a young deer fawn alone in the wild, assumes it is lost, orphaned or hurt, and takes it home with them to nurse it back to health. Not only is this a bad idea, it’s against the law, state officials warn.

In the past two weeks alone, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists have reported several instances of people taking deer fawns out of the wild.

While well-intentioned, these acts of kindness do more harm than good, officials said Wednesday.

People are often mistaken when they believe something is wrong because a young animal is alone.

The young animal’s mother is probably close by, maintaining what she sees as a safe distance between herself and humans or foraging for food.

“This is often at the critical stage of the animal’s development, when it should be learning how to act like a wild animal and feed itself,” cautioned Dr. Julia D. Burco, ODFW veterinarian.

“This becomes quite problematic,” Burco said, “because often these animals may not have truly been orphaned — and once they become imprinted or habituated to people, it is much harder to get them to relearn species-specific survival skills.”

Rather than handle the animal, ODFW encourages people who find wildlife they believe is sick, orphaned or injured and in need of help to note the animal’s condition and location and call the local ODFW wildlife biologist or Oregon State Police.

For more information, visit ODFW’s “Living with Oregon Wildlife” section on the department’s website at www.odfw.com.