With spring in the air, Victorians are starting to spot baby deer, or fawns, taking their first steps around town.
Whether they’re in your own backyard or in a nearby park, these adorable creatures are often seen wandering alone, leading many people to assume they are orphaned or in distress.
It can be tempting to pet the fawn or offer comfort, but this is inadvisable, even if the animal is injured or in danger
Why avoid the fawns?
Fawns typically only nurse two to three times a day during the first few weeks of their life.
When they’re not nursing, they choose their own bedding away from their mom, and move around several times a day all by themselves!
But the doe is always a few hundred feet away from them—even if you can’t always see her.
Fawns also take several days to imprint on their mom, which means that before they do, there’s a chance they could imprint on other large moving objects.
This includes human beings.
Plus touching a fawn means leaving our human scent all over it. This makes them much more easily detectable to predators in the area, since fawns naturally have little to no scent.
What to do if a fawn is injured/in danger
If you suspect that a fawn is orphaned, Animal Control Services recommends that you “observe from a distance for 12 to 18 hours” to see whether or not the mom returns. If she still hasn’t returned, call the BC SPCA Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre (WildARC) at 250-478-9453.
Other reasons to call WildARC for a baby deer include if:
- it seems frantic, is wandering and bleating consistently, or approaching people
- it is obviously injured
- it has been fed anything by anyone
- it is located in a dangerous or high-traffic area
It is also important to note that in many parts of Greater Victoria, it is illegal to leave food out for wild animals including deer, raccoons, rabbits, etc.
