Wildlife Center of Virginia hopes to help fawns

Discoverers of isolated white-tailed deer fawns should consider a simple plan to aid the animals: Leave them alone.
That is the advice of Wildlife Center of Virginia President Ed Clark.
“Finding a fawn does not automatically mean that it has been abandoned or orphaned,” Clark said. “Unless a fawn is injured, our general advice is to leave the fawn alone for 24 hours. In most cases, the mother will return to provide food and care.”
The Wildlife Center has been receiving numerous calls about white-tailed deer fawns, which are born from April through July, with most births taking place in June.
When mothers feed, they typically leave their fawns alone, taking care to prevent predators from finding little ones. Clark said mothers usually aren’t far away, but leave their fawns alone for 22 hours a day.
People who pick up or pet fawns may unwittingly cut the animals’ chances for survival, according to the National Park Service. Mothers may no longer detect the scent of their offspring and abandon the animals, leaving them to starve.
Resisting the urge to reach out to the storybook creatures can prove a daunting challenge for some people, perhaps unaware of the dangers.
The local uptick in calls about fawns follows a busy May for the Wildlife Center, which admitted 544 animals, about 100 short of the center record, Clark said. In 2007, the center treated 2,333 animals, which continues a downward trend started in 2001, when the center treated a record 3,315 animals.
Clark said he is trying to educate people about when it is necessary for an animal to come there.
“We have worked very hard in a triage situation to reduce the number of animals coming in,” Clark said.
He said the center began closely tracking which animals were coming in and why about 15 years ago and learned that one in three admitted was healthy.
Worries over baby birds, for example, frequently are unfounded, Clark said. People concerned about cats doing harm to the birds, he said, should bring the cats inside and leave the birds outside, Clark said.
The center offers training for people who want to get involved with wildlife rescuing and rehabilitation. There are more than 300 certified wildlife rehabilitators throughout Virginia.
The Wildlife Center treated its 50,000 patient May 12 when a common loon found in a parking lot was treated for foot injuries and released back onto a nearby lake June 3. The 50,000 wild animals the center has treated since its inception in 1982 represent 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Calling the wild
During May 2008, the Wildlife Center of Virginia admitted:
* 82 Eastern cottontail rabbits
* 54 Virginia opossums
* 40 American robins
* 40 European starlings
* 26 common grackles
* 26 mallards
* 20 Canada geese

Want to help?
If you find an animal you think is in need of help, go to http://www.wildlifecenter.org/rescue/ or call the Wildlife Center at (540) 942-9453 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily. For an after hours wildlife emergency, call (540) 241-4045.