Frankfort, KY - People who find deer fawns in the weeds at this time of year should leave them alone. Not only is taking a fawn from the wild bad for the animal, but it is against the law to keep a wild deer as a pet. Because the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources discourages people from removing baby animals from the wild, the department does not issue permits for deer found in the wild.

Those who believe that they are “rescuing” an abandoned baby animal by taking it home may be ensuring that the deer does not survive. These Good Samaritans may actually be taking the fawn away from its mother. Pen-raised deer have practically no chance of survival in the wild.

“Some people who don’t know better will pick fawns up,” said David Yancy, assistant deer coordinator with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “They pick them up and the mother is probably watching them from the nearby woods. She’s definitely within earshot and will usually come running if the fawn bleats. The young animal is almost never abandoned.”

Female deer give birth from late May to early July. The peak of births occurs in mid-June and Kentuckians often find newborn fawns in tall grass at this time of year. The mother of the fawn is often nowhere in sight.

The mother leaves the fawn if she feels threatened by the approach of a human or a predator during morning and evening nursing sessions. She wants the threatening presence to follow her and not endanger her fawn.

She also doesn’t want to attract undue attention to her fawns, so she stays away from them for hours at a time during the day while she feeds and rests. The fawns lay low in the grass and their spots help to camouflage them.

“They’ve evolved to remain bedded for the first few weeks of life,” Yancy explained. “The fawn hides in the grass from predators and is scentless. If you find one, leave it alone. If you find one while mowing your hay field, pick it up and put it somewhere nearby where you won’t be mowing. The mother will return and find it in the evening.”

The worst thing people can do is to pick up the fawn and try to raise it on their own. Humans are poor substitutes for the fawn’s natural mother.

“It always ends badly for either the human or the deer,” Yancy said. “It is also illegal. The only people who can have deer in captivity are rehabilitators or someone with a captive cervid (deer) permit.”

The same applies if a person finds a fawn in another state and is tempted to bring it back home. A new law which takes effect July 12 makes it a felony to bring a live deer, including a fawn, into Kentucky.

The fawn that weighs 6 to 8 pounds in June will grow to 65 to 75 pounds by fall. The following summer, the deer is mature and may weigh 125 pounds. A mature buck deer can be dangerous. “They can hurt you,” Yancy said. “They start tearing up things like their pen, eating gardens and exhibiting other destructive behavior. They can seriously injure a person with their antlers and hooves. They are going to try to show you that they are dominant.”

People who find an injured fawn or other animal and want someone to care for it should not bring it to the Salato Wildlife Education Center in Frankfort. The Center does not take in orphaned or injured animals.

To find the nearest rehabilitator permitted to care for injured wild animals, log onto Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website at fw.ky.gov and go to http://fw.ky.gov/navigation.asp?cid=366&NavPath=C100  for a list of wildlife rehabilitators across Kentucky.

The best thing a person can do if they encounter a baby deer is to leave the deer fawn alone. Mother Nature will take care of young deer much better than humans.