WESTERN SLOPE -- What do you do if you see a deer fawn all by itself without its mother? Leave it alone. That’s the message that the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife wants to hammer home to folks in the high country.
“We’ve had quite a few calls from people in the area that have seen fawns lately,” explained Joe Lewandowski, the public information specialist for CDPW’s southwest region. “A lot of them think the fawns have been abandoned and need to be ‘saved,’ but most likely, they haven’t. If you see a deer fawn or an elk calf ... or any little critter ... look at it, admire from a distance and move on.”
It is quite common to come across fawns on their own at this time of year, Lewandowski explained, even in such unlikely places as a roadside or the deck of a house.
“The mother is nursing her young, but she has to go off and get nutrition, so the fawns are not always with her,” he said.
Lying still is a fawn’s best survival strategy, Lewandowski explained, because they are not yet big enough to outrun a predator like a mountain lion or coyote. “Fawns don’t have any odor to speak of, and are very well camouflaged and know to lie very still while they are left alone,” he said.
Fawns are typically born in mid-June, and will be nursing for another month or so before they are big enough to tag along on their mothers’ foraging forays, Lewandowski said.
“It’s nature’s way,” he explained. “Deer have done very well for long before we were here. They are beautiful to look at, but it’s important to leave them alone.”
If people have a concern about a wild animal, they can call the CDPW office in Montrose at 970/252-6000.
Post a Comment
