Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary has issued advice about how to deal with young wildlife after a fawn was separated from its mother and now cannot be re-united.
A member of the public picked up the young deer, when it was a few days old, and took him home thinking he was in trouble.
When he started to decline, the person contacted Whitby Wildlife, where he was taken in and named Buddy. Now around three weeks old, Buddy is being bottle-fed in the hope he can eventually be re-released into the wild.
Alexandra Farmer, founder of the sanctuary, said the charity gets a lot of calls at this time of year about young fawns. She added it is quite normal for does to leave fawns hidden from predators for hours at a time while they forage for food and return later.
She said: “The mum may well have gone back and found no fawn. We said to leave him where he was and the mother will be near-by but they took him home.
“He was severely dehydrated when we got him. It is frustrating, but unfortunately for a lot of wild-life, people pick them up.”
Alexandra said intervention should only be when the fawn is injured; weak, cold, or collapsed; wandering and crying constantly; there is a dead deer nearby (could be the mother) or it has been in the same exposed spot for more than 24 hours.
She urged anyone in doubt to contact the sanctuary first for advice as an unnecessary rescue can reduce a fawn’s chance of survival in the wild.
Other young guests at the sanctuary at Broomfield Farm include fox cubs. One is getting treatment for an infected leg injury and one was left orphaned after its mother was killed.
In the last week, Whitby Wildlife has re-released more than 40 animals back into the wild. They included swans, gulls, pigeons, rabbits, crows, owls and waterfowl.
