Just fed all the fawns, inside and out. Morrow did not sleep with the babies again last night. (I think she thought 2 nights with her were enough to get them with the program.) But she DID want to come in while I fed them this morning.....and then tried to steal a bottle! LOL! I will HAVE to get video of this huge deer (OK...shes very small by yearling standards, but quite large when standing next to a tiny fawn) drinking from a bottle! And, no, at this stage, bottles arent good for her. But a taste wont hurt her. So I let her finish a bottle that the others didnt want. I felt that shes earned a treat now and then for her role model activities. Often, a yearling will pal up with an older doe and act as a nanny for the does babies. Ive seen it many time in the wild with one of my yearlings paling up with a previously released older doe. So in the wild, Morrow might be providing nanny services anyway. So thats what shes doing for these younguns in the baby pen. Shes doing a GREAT job and my earlier worries about how we were going to keep up the high level of care for the babies without Ruen has been addressed. Her bad leg still does not bend at the knee and it takes her several tries to be able to stand up. So unless something changes, I dont think shell be a candidate for release after all. (When a coyote comes around, a wild deer HAS TO be able to spring up out of a dead sleep and run like the wind.....by the time she would get to her feet, it would be all over for her.) I DO hate that she wont be able to live the life of a free deer. But in other ways, shes an answer to our prayers. And, just like Ruen, she does NOT come running up for kisses or other behaviors that would teach the babies bad things. We can never have a pet deer teaching the babies bad behaviors. And she was raised to be wild and acts that way. (In fact, prior to her broken leg, Morrow was one of the wildest babies in her group. I could barely see her because she would stay SO far away from me with the entire herd between she and I.) So shes a perfect deer to fill Ruens vacant job position. Ill work on getting a video of her with a bottle one of these days. I find it highly amusing!
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 15:52:38 +0000
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