Baby deer nursed back to health in Pungo

Four little fawns, brown and dappled with white, eagerly drank their morning bottles of formula offered by wildlife rehabilitator Becky Cattani.

One baby nuzzled Cattani and appeared to appreciate a little human contact. The other three were skittish and stayed close to the far fence, except when it came to sucking on their bottle.

These little ones – no bigger than skinny, medium-sized puppies – were among a dozen or more deer offspring that Cattani would nurse back to health over the summer.

Fawns are orphaned often after their mothers get hit by a car or chased by dogs, Cattani explained. In some cases, the youngsters themselves are injured.

The babes often arrive at Cattani’s Pungo farm, weak and covered in ticks and flies. Cattani cleans them up, medicates them and takes them to a veterinarian, if necessary. And she hand-feeds them with a specialized formula until they are on their feet.

The four little Bambis that day, healthy now, would soon be weaned from Cattani’s caring hands, literally. They will leave their sun-dappled, shade-cloth covered pen for a bigger enclosure deeper in the woods behind Cattani’s home.

There, Cattani will feed the fawns from bottles rigged on the fence, so that they will lose their dependency on her presence. They also will be fed plenty of browse, the word for the branches of trees and shrubs that adult deer like to feed on.

The youngsters will lose their spots as they shed their fur in the fall. If all goes as it usually does, deer from the wild will come to visit the pen from the woods, Cattani said. The transition to the wild is then easy, because at a point Cattani just opens the gate and young ones are free to leave.

On occasion Cattani will get a fawn in that doesn’t need saving. A well-meaning passerby finds a baby asleep in the woods or a field and think it has lost its mother. But not so. Every morning a doe puts her youngsters to bed for the day. It looks all alone, but the mother is always nearby, Cattani explained.

“Right before dawn she 'taps’ them down with her muzzle and they stay there,” Cattani said, “but she’s always watching.”

And for the most part, the moms know what they are doing. Fawns with their spotted coloration are well camouflaged curled up in the grass or woods with sunlight shining in a mottled pattern through the trees.

On the other hand, sometimes, come the dawn, it might be obvious that mom made bad choice for her babies’ bed that day. She might have chosen a field that’s about to be mowed or nestled her youngsters too close to a roadside, Cattani explained. Then the young may need to be moved to a safer spot nearby, but certainly not taken to Cattani.

“You can always go back the next day and check,” she said.

On the other hand, if you find a fawn covered in ticks and flies and maybe walking around, bleating, it does need help.

“If it looks like Bambi, leave it alone,” Cattani said.

Now that almost everybody has a cell phone, Cattani suggests that if you are unsure about what to do, just call her at 286-5262.

For more information on deer, Cattani suggests you visit the following web site: www.enature.com

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Reader reports:

Eagle Visitor  After hearing the birds fuss in the woods on the edge of his yard in Southgate, Tommie Ammons walked outside to investigate: “Much to my surprise and delight, a huge eagle took flight from his perch in a pine tree about 15 yards from where I stood,” Ammons reported. “What an incredible privilege.”

Fox Families  Chuck Hudson said he wants a “Fox Crossing” sign like the one in Bay Colony. “Princess Anne Hills is being over run with fox families ... I have one who snoozes outside my office window any time of day. One is often heading down my driveway as I get my paper. ...Kits gamboling in the street.”
 
Chukar still on the lam  John Rossman saw the chukar (a partridge/quail-like bird) on the lawn of his Chancellor Walk condos. So did the staff at Windermere , a nursing facility on Old Donation Parkway, said Ellen Stott. “It was pacing up and down the window sill of the physical therapy room,” she said.

Swimming Raccoon  Jane Brumley saw a raccoon swimming in Knotts Island Bay about 100 yards offshore. She had never seen a raccoon swimming out in open water like that.
 
Swamp Critter  David Cattani thinks the swamp critter that was seen recently in the Stumpy Lake area is a big “crab-eating raccoon.” And Sandra Belanga wonders if it’s not the cougar her husband thinks he’s seen in the Hells Point Golf Course area.
 
Baby Wood Ducks  Deborah Stone has seen two female wood ducks with babies in the Elizabeth River Water Trail Access area.
 
Dove Visitor  Camilla Walck has a pair of doves with two young ones in a nest on top of a small refrigerator on the deck at their North End home. Walck and her family are always on the deck, grilling, watering plants getting a beer from the fridge, etc. “They just stare at us! It is so cute!” Walck wrote.