Rigby, Idaho – A family who took in and raised a seemingly orphaned fawn found themselves heartbroken after Idaho Fish & Game officials euthanized the young deer. As reported by East Idaho News, a man spotted a tiny fawn on the road while traveling to work in June.
Camille Ramage, the man’s daughter, tells the news agency, “It was like a newborn baby deer, like maybe that day or a few days after it was born.” The man waited for over an hour, hoping that the fawn and its mother would reunite, but the mother never returned.
Rather than leaving the baby by the road where it might be struck by a car, he took it home and his family cared for it for the next four months. The family intended to return the fawn to the wild after it was old enough and stronger. But everything changed when someone reported the fawn’s presence via a tip to the Fish & Game’s Citizens Against Poaching hotline.
Spencer Wesche, a regional conservation officer with Idaho Fish and Game, tells the news agency why the fawn was taken and killed, “When they’re small and little, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to pose any sort of threat to you. But deer have really sharp hooves, and if it’s a buck, it will grow antlers. And as they get older, they start seeking out humans and have those interactions. They do start to show signs of aggression and can really do some damage.”
Wesche recommends calling wildlife officials for assistance if someone spots a fawn who could be in a dangerous place:
“The sooner that we know about something, where it’s just on the side of the road and could get into traffic, maybe we could come out and relocate it to the river bottoms or something like that. Just make sure we’re leaving the wildlife be, and make sure you’re calling the correct agency to chat about that.”
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