Enjoy The Wildlife But Please Don’t Take It Home With You Park Rangers Ask

June 5, 2009

Hard to believe but it seems that Umstead State Park has had a problem with people finding fawns and loading them into their cars and taking them.

Park Ranger Bob Davies recently got a seemingly bizarre call from a hiker.
“She witnessed a woman who (was) riding a bike actually pick up a fawn and take it to her van,” Davies said. The caller said the woman then drove out of the park with the baby deer, he said.
“She was probably thinking it was injured and decided the best course was to take it to whomever, be it a rehab or a veterinarian,” he said.

It turns out in that particular case the woman worked for NC State University at the Veterinary School and took the injured fawn to a wildlife rehabilitator. However the fawn died from its injuries. According to park officials that this is not an isolated case thus the warning to leave wildlife alone. This time of year the majority of whitetail does have their fawns and the way momma protects them is to hide them. It is not unusual for people to find fawns laying in flower beds or in the bushes without an adult deer present. She’ll come back for them don’t touch them and keep your distance. A fawn that gets handled by humans could be rejected by the doe when she returns.
Inside the park if you see a deer that appears to be injured contact the Park Rangers.

Rangers stressed that visitors are encouraged to call if they believe they have found an injured animal, but taking animals out of the park is against the rules. The rule is for the animals’ own protection, rangers said.