Watch Moment Workers Use Excavator To Save Life of Baby Deer Drowning in Mud Pit
It can be difficult to know when to intervene when wildlife is struggling.
During the spring, people tend to see all sorts of baby animals, and it can be hard to know when an animal is in danger or only appears to be.
Some birds will pretend to have broken wings to lure predators away from their nests. Sometimes baby birds or bunnies look abandoned, when really their mommas are close by and waiting for you to leave so they can return to their young.
Often, it’s best to just let wildlife be. This applies to all wild critters, including deer.
“There is a strong probability that you did not find an abandoned fawn,” a blog post from the National Wildlife Federation states. “Female deer hide their newborn fawns in tall grass or brush and move some distance away to feed to avoid drawing predators to their offspring.”
“With the proliferation of deer in suburban areas, sometimes this happens right in our own yards. The fawn simply waits in hiding until its mother returns. Soon, the fawns will be strong enough to follow the does and run from predators, and they no longer need to spend hours alone in hiding.”
The only times the federation suggested reaching out for help (and not attempting to rescue or assist on your own) is if you see a baby deer near a dead adult deer or can see obvious wounds on the fawn.
Otherwise, leaving it alone is the kindest thing you can do.
One gentleman named Bill Davis reportedly came across a slightly different situation in April 2016. While checking on a construction site, he said he noticed two deer had gotten themselves into a — literally — sticky situation.
The Tacoma, Washington, resident believed the two deer (black-tailed deer, according to Earth Touch News Network) were in serious trouble.
These deer weren’t fawns, they were a bit older. Being more independent and able to forage for some of their own food, they’d wandered and managed to get themselves firmly trapped in the mud.
Davis couldn’t leave them to perish, so he found someone nearby with an excavator and they worked together to rescue the critters.
He filmed one of the extractions, and it went viral after he posted it online.
“I didn’t sleep much [after the rescue],” Davis said. “All I could think about was those little guys getting stuck again, and not finding mama! I’m out there looking to make sure the babies didn’t come back to the mud!”
“Here’s a vid on one of two deer I found while checking on some alarm events on some property for a company I work for,” Davis posted on Facebook.
“I wouldn’t have seen them if they hadn’t moved and caught my eye! I’m an avid deer hunter and it broke my heart to see this!”
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