KELOWNA – Your intentions may be good, but in the end you may be doing more harm than good. Local conservation officers have an important message for people who try to rescue fawns by taking them into their own care. Many of the little animals end up dangerously comfortable around humans. Kelowna conservation officer Terry Myroniuk says fawns are taught to be independent shortly after birth.
“It’s natural for deer to leave their fawns and only return to them a couple times per day,” says Myroniuk.
However, what is actually the teaching of natural survival skills, can seem like a fawn that has been abandoned by its mother and that is where the problems begin.
“When people find these fawns, they assume that they’re orphaned and take action,” explains Myroniuk. “They do things like picking them up, moving them and in some cases taking possession of them and trying to care for them themselves.”
Conservation officers and organizations like Critter Care strongly discourage people from taking these steps.
“The danger in that is that if this fawn starts to cry and the mother hears it, that mother is going to be there in a flash and the people could end up getting in a bad scenario, in some cases getting killed by this doe,” says Gail Martin, founder and executive director of Critter Care Wildlife Society.
Myroniuk says Critter Care, which is located in Langley, is one of the only licensed rehabilitation centres in the province, the closest one to Okanagan residents. B.C. Wilflife Park in Kamloops used to take in fawns for rehabilitation. However, that practise has been ruled ineffective because B.C. Wildlife Park staff found the majority of the fawns ended up seeking human attention, sometime more so than their own species.
“We felt that it was very important to give them their very best chance and we are not sending a very good message by continually taking them in and not giving them their best chance,” says Tara Geiger, animal care supervisor at B.C. Wildlife Park.
However, both organizations and local conservation officers agree it’s important you don’t try to rescue a fawn yourself.
“When you have a tame deer in the urban environment, it can cause problems,” says Myroniuk. “Everything from vehicle strikes to even being aggressive protecting their young which we’ve had instances of as well.”
Without a license to do so, taking a fawn into your care is also against the law and you could be fined.
“Fines start at $345 for unlawful possession of wildlife and we are taking a very hard stance on it because it is a problem that we are trying to eliminate,” says Myroniuk.
He says if you are concerned that a fawn or deer might be legitimately orphaned or injured, you’re asked to call the local conservation office at 1-877-952-7277.
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