If you find young wildlife you think needs to be rescued, please don’t take matters into your own hands. Please call for help. To reach a game warden 24-hours a day, please contact the dispatch at the regional communication center nearest you at one of the numbers below.
Regional Communication Center (Gray) 1-800-228-0857
Regional Communication Center (Augusta) 1-800-452-4664
Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department (Dover-Foxcroft) 1-800-432-7372
Regional Communication Center (Orono) 1-800-432-7381
Regional Communication Center (Houlton) 1-800-924-2261
I’m sharing a message from Emily MacCabe, outdoor educator at Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. Emily’s husband, Kris, is a game warden. They were given a “rescued” fawn last weekend. “He was less than 24 hours old when someone picked him up thinking that the doe had left him. He had a twin but they didn’t discover him until after Kris had intervened and the twin remained in the woods where hopefully the mother returned.”
Someone meant well. With the best of intentions, someone separated the fawn from its mother. Does seldom abandon fawns. They do leave them alone most of the day and return to them when it’s time for the fawn(s) to nurse. Fawns have no natural scent, making them difficult for predators to find when they’re alone.
The fawn was given a bottle to avoid dehydration during the night.
Game warden Kris MacCabe feeds a fawn.
Snuggled in for the night.
Emily had more to share. “Because this fawn didn’t get the care it needed from its mother immediately after birth (colostrum) it didn’t survive. It died the next morning at my house before I could get it to the Maine Wildlife Park.”
The fawn didn’t need to be rescued and sadly, it didn’t survive.
If you care, leave them there. It’s a simple message I hope you’ll remember and repeat.
From Emily: “This morning (Saturday) Kris received a call from a woman who had picked up a fawn in a field last night. She said she had been watching it for 2 days but didn’t see the mother.”
A week old fawn was taken from its hiding spot.
“This fawn appears to be about a week old and was very well cared for. He was actually pretty feisty when Kris brought him back to the house! We have him some milk replacement and helped with the ever important bowel movement (they normally have help from their mother) and then took him to the Wildlife Park where he will be raised and eventually released into the wild. This little fawn was NOT happy about being taken from his mother and was very vocal about it! The woman who picked him up quickly realized she had done the wrong thing.”
