Ive had SO many people ask me recently how we keep the deer safe after release (they are presuming that the deer will walk up to humans). Let me state again that RAISED PROPERLY, rehabbed deer will NOT walk up to humans!!! IMPROPERLY raised deer WILL!!! THIS is why we allow NO visitors around our rehabilitating animals. Only selected volunteers (VERY few) are even allowed near them while here during their care. At this stage of care (as in the recent photo), they need LOTS of hands on care. We give them what they need to live. But as soon as we can, we put them with other deer and as we are able, we remove ourselves from their lives except to provide the care that they need. We work hard to let the herd mentality take over (as shown in the photo). We support the HERD at each step of the way so that by the time they are released, they are relying on each other AS THEY MUST if they hope to be successful in the wild. A fawn raised singly (or even a couple if the HUMAN is seen as the role model) has little to no chance of success in the wild. Yes, a few do live free, but their world can be shattered in an instant if a predator crosses their paths, because they do NOT know what to do about that. As a reminder, while we have a high rate of success in returning deer to the wild after raising them in captivity (as opposed to failures, where the deer would follow people around), we CANNOT UNteach bad habits that they have learned in captivity. So we cannot take in older fawns that have been previously raised as pets. If anyone has one they are trying to raise themselves and have it around pets or people and NOT other deer, the time to give it a chance for a long happy life is NOW. Get it to a licensed fawn rehabber as quickly as you can. There is still time to teach them GOOD habits. Later in the season, it will be too late. And besides all this, it is illegal to have a fawn in your possession unless you are licensed fawn rehabber. Here is a list of fawn rehabbers in the state of SC. Do not give fawns to people who are NOT on this list!
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 13:29:34 +0000
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