WILDLIFE RESCUES: SOMETIMES IT DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD

June 13, 2005
CONTACT: Karen Parker (386) 758-0525

This is the time of year when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) begins getting calls about abandoned fawns and other animals that folks believe may be in need of rescue.

However, the rescue could do more harm than good.

After giving birth, adult wildlife must forage to provide food for themselves and their young, leaving their newborns for short periods. Having some basic knowledge of wildlife and the survival skills animals employ can help avoid misdirected rescue attempts of animals that don’t require rescuing.

One of the most common targets of misplaced rescues is baby deer, temporarily left in a safe place while their mothers feed nearby. Many people who find baby fawns mistakenly assume they have been abandoned, when in reality its parents are in the process of ensuring the infant’s survival.

“In most cases, it is absolutely not in the fawn’s best interest to try and rescue it,” said Allan Hallman, wildlife biologist at the FWC’s Camp Blanding Field Office.

According to Hallman, what typically happens is that someone discovers a young deer waiting for the return of its mother. Often these discoveries are made in palmetto patches or in recently burned areas that are relatively bare, where a doe has placed her new offspring for protection. Settings like palmetto patches and newly burned areas tend to help depress the fawn’s scent, which in turn provides good protection from the keen nose of a predator.

People discover these seemingly abandoned baby deer and become concerned when the parent is nowhere in sight. The would-be rescuer falsely believes the young animal will perish unless they save it or take it to a wildlife rehabilitation center.

Unfortunately, actions of this kind usually have the opposite effect of a rescue. The stress created by changing the baby animal’s diet and surroundings is often fatal. Should the rescued fawn somehow manage to survive the rescue, its return to the wild becomes impossible because of human imprinting or a lack of survival skills. Had it not been removed from the wild, the young deer would have learned the necessary survival skills from its mother.

The FWC recommends that if you find a fawn or other baby animal, don’t touch it, and quietly leave the area. Touching the animal may cause the mother to reject it because it is contaminated with human scent.

On the other hand, songbirds have almost no sense of smell and can be returned to their nest without much chance of rejection. Young songbirds are a popular favorite of the would-be animal rescuer. Baby songbirds are commonly found on the ground at this time of year, looking a bit dazed or confused. The young bird may be trying to hide in tall grass or in low bushes to avoid being seen by predators. These young birds are going through a process called fledging.

During fledging, young birds learn to fly and fend for themselves. The immature bird may spend several days on the ground, during which the bird’s parents keep an eye out, feeding it and helping it to learn needed survival skills. You can help the bird's parents by keeping any pets that may harm the young birds indoors during the flight lessons.

“We encourage people to help these young birds by not interfering in this crucial learning process,” said Hallman.

Here are some important facts that can help determine if a baby bird needs rescuing. According to biologists, the only time a baby songbird should be rescued is when it is on the ground and has almost no feathers, when the bird is injured by pets or its tail is less than a half-inch long and it cannot hop around on its own.

If you find a baby songbird that you are sure needs rescuing, here are a few tips that will help to ensure its survival:

The FWC asks you to remember that removing an animal from the wild to save it may actually have the opposite effect. Seek advice from wildlife professionals before attempting to rescue any animal and please remember, in most cases, it is better to leave wildlife in the wild.

For more information on what you can do to help Florida’s wildlife, check out MyFWC.com/critters/wildlife.htm.

The FWC also has more wildlife information at MyFWC.com.
 

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