ANSWER
(It’s long, but worth the read)
•The fawn in the back is the dehydrated fawn. It was found in an area where a doe was hit by a car two days prior. When found 48 hours later the fawn showed clinical signs of dehydration and showed no signs of recent feedings. It was lethargic. The photo was taken a few hours after intake. The fawn perked up a lot after being rehydrated.
•The fawn in the middle was “rescued” because the finders saw it having some trouble crossing a road. They were told based on pictures they shared with others that it was dehydrated. The fawn, to them, was calm and just laid there once it was picked up. When it came to us it showed no signs of clinical dehydration. It had a full belly. It had excellent mobility. It did show signs of stress the first day, likely from being picked up and held. We were not able to return the fawn because we did not know the exact location it was found and too much time passed before we could secure a volunteer to put the fawn back (we were busy caring for two emergency intakes).
•The fawn in the front (note it also has curled ears) had an excellent intake exam. This fawn was found more than an hour away. Although other rescues advised them to bring it to us, it was obvious the finders received false information. The finders were not willing to return the fawn after they drove “all that way” to save it. We don’t blame them. Getting conflicting info from rescues is confusing.
What can you learn from this?
Do not rescue a fawn just because it has curled ears. There are zero studies that prove this is a sign of dehydration. There are studies that show “curly ears” can be genetic. Curly eared fawns can be dehydrated, but dehydration is not the reason the ears are curled.
Do not rescue a fawn because it is small or too skinny. Fawns are supposed to be small and skinny. It is ok to see their hip bones. An experienced rescue will look at more than how skinny a fawn is before bringing it in for care.
Do not rescue a fawn because it is not as agile as you think it should be. Newborn fawns are not graceful at all. They do gain more agility as they age and start to follow mom. Let an experienced rescue decide if what you are seeing is a concern.
Stress Kills. The simple act of picking a fawn up can cause severe stress. The only time a fawn’s hooves leave the ground in the wild is when a predator picks them up. And guess what? People are predators. What you are experiencing is a “freeze instinct” animals have when encountering predators.
We appreciate ANY finder that is willing to make the effort to save an animal. Every fawn at the rescue was brought to us with the best of intentions. It is important that finders talk to the rescue that will be providing care for the animals vs random folks on the internet or rescues that are inexperienced in fawn rehabilitation before removing it from the wild. Locally we will ask you to leave a healthy fawn for mom to reclaim and drop a location to us so we can check on the fawn throughout the day.
If you are anywhere else we will give you instructions on how to monitor the fawn.
Healthy, uninjured fawns should never be removed from the wild. Even if they are alone. Even if they move around a little on their own.
Of course, there are obvious reasons a fawn might need to be rescued. Fawns need rescue if they are found with a dead mother, are alone for more than 24 hours AND showing signs of declining health (remember alone and healthy is ok!), calling for mom for more than a few hours, have obvious life-threatening injuries/bleeding, or if they have ants or fly larva on them.
Fawns should only be removed from the wild if you have already contacted a wildlife rescue that has agreed to take the fawn.
If you have found a fawn, but are not sure if it needs help, please call (or even better) text us. 803-900-3911 or 803-427-1350