That fawn isn't orphaned, so don't try to 'rescue' it

I have dedicated my career and most of my life to conservation, so wildlife is very important to me. It's the idea of passing on fisheries and wildlife resources to future generations through wise management.

Of all my duties as a conservation agent, one of my most challenging comes this time of year. I sincerely hope this information (wise conservation) reaches those who really need it, either directly or indirectly, and is absorbed. I cannot stress the importance of this enough.

This is the time of year when most of our wildlife reproduce and "baby" animals are born. Therefore, this is the time of year when wildlife is the most abundant.

As you can tell, I am stressing the word "wildlife" because that is exactly what it is -- wild animals that have evolved to exist efficiently in their environment.

And "baby" animals need to be left alone at all costs. Removing them from immediate danger by placing them to the side of the road is fine, or confining domestic pets to allow these juveniles time to pass through is the best we can do.

Where we get into trouble as human beings is when our compassion overrides our common sense. Take fawn deer for example. They will be the focus for the rest of this article.

Locally, with the growing deer population along with the growing human population, there is obviously a much higher rate of deer/human interaction on a daily basis. Whitetail deer are at their highest concentrations I have seen in Butler County in more than 30 years, and I dare say ever. Deer are an adaptive species and do not think twice to "set up house" among a few trees or in a brushy drain behind your house and eat your shrubs or your garden plants.

People get to see more fawns than ever before. For some reason, people expect to see them bouncing around happy and healthy behind their natural mother at all times. But, it does not work like that. Mothers are seldom seen with the fawns until they are nearly losing their spots at several weeks old. They stay in the general area and feed their fawns in the early morning hours when we are usually asleep.

Conservation agents get several "orphaned" fawn calls daily this time of year, and the information we get will follow two different descriptions.

In the first situation, the caller says "we found this fawn by the road by itself" or "its mother had been hit by a vehicle." Upon investigation of several of these situations over the years, the mother was never seen, or the roadkill doe may have been a mile up the road.

It is not uncommon for people to come to the wrong conclusions quickly when the doe is not seen.

The second scenario is when the fawn is found in a yard. It is not moving much and covered in ticks with flies circling. Not moving is their security system when their mother is not in the fawn's immediate presence.

Doe deer do not abandon their young. Wild animals are fiercely protective of their young and will come back for days looking for their fawn after someone has "rescued" it. This is a much sadder case than perceived fawn abandonment.

Do all young wild animals make it to adulthood? No. They are not supposed to. We would be overwhelmed with wildlife causing all sorts of problems.

Do we have rehabilitators? There are very few permitted wildlife rehabilitators by design. Credible, licensed wildlife rehabilitators through the Missouri Department of Conservation are the only ones who can legally possess/rehab wildlife and are used predominantly for rare and endangered species.

Natural resource agencies do not want baby animals picked up regardless of good intentions, therefore they purposely have few permitted rehabilitators.

With the threat of CWD spreading across Missouri, movement of live deer is now being limited to the county it resides. So, transporting "orphaned" fawns to a permitted wildlife rehabilitator in another county is not an option.

Can someone get in trouble for picking up/possessing wildlife? Absolutely. Rarely do fawns live when people try to raise them. If they do live, they become too familiar with humans and may not do well in a wild environment. Either way, the prognosis for a "rescued" deer is not good. And, despite recommendations from conservation agents, some people ignore our directives and attempt to raise the fawns or take them to someone who is not a permitted rehabilitator. These people will be cited for illegal possession of wildlife just as if they had shot a deer in closed season.

I recently saw a cartoon on a website, consisting of predominantly conservation officers from all over North America, that summed this ongoing problem in a humorous form, even though it is sadly not funny. The cartoon showed a buck and a doe peering into a fenced backyard with two children playing. The human mother was not visible. One deer was mentioning to the other they needed to rescue the human baby because the mother was not around.

We all know taking other people's children is highly illegal, so please, don't take fawns away from their mothers.