Washington State Trooper Responds To Deer Fatality, Ends Up Saving Fawn

Bellingham, Washington — A Washington State Trooper responding to a deer fatality near Bellingham ended up with a fawn in his patrol car after the young deer walked up and began nuzzling him.

The incident happened on Tuesday, when Trooper Scott Brown arrived at the scene in Bellingham. While other deer stayed back, the fawn, who was possibly orphaned by the accident, ran up to him. Another trooper at the scene, Mark Francis, recalled that the baby deer nuzzled up against Brown while “mewing,” reports The Washington Post.

Not sure what to do, Brown decided to pick up the fawn and place it in his patrol car, where he took it to Sarvey Wildlife Care Center in Arlington, Washington.

The Bellingham Herald reports that Suzanne West, the Executive Director at Sarvey, stated that the fawn was very dehydrated on arrival, but it is doing better now. She also noted that it suffered minor injuries, which show it could have been clipped by the truck that struck the adult deer, who is suspected to be the 2-month-old fawn’s mother.

West stated that worker at the wildlife center take special care to not get attached, so they don’t name the animals that come in. They also wear hoods when they feed, so that the fawns don’t think that humans will care for them. West explained, “We want them to stay wild.”

As long as the rehabilitation is successful, then the deer will most likely not be released until May of 2013. West noted that the fawn has a deer buddy to help it recover, explaining that “fawns don’t do well in isolation.”

[Image courtesy of The Seattle Times]