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 In the early morning hours, Frank Baker of Boiling Springs was driving along Highway 11 near Campobello, SC. About 200 yards ahead was a pickup truck. But Friday, June 19th did not provide a typical morning for Baker. The truck and a deer met tragically a few seconds later. “I saw the truck swerve then three things flew up into the air,” Baker says. The truck never stopped. Baker did. Baker found a doe in a culvert, dead. Curiosity drew Baker to the yard where he’d seen the other objects land. There he found one dead baby deer, and something else. That something was another fawn, still wrapped in its embryonic sac. The doe that had been hit was carrying full-term twins. Baker pulled the sac away and the fawn started to move. At a nearby gas station, Baker asked for advice about what to do with the fawn, now lying in the floorboard of his car. Baker decided to call Hollywild Animal Park. He and the park’s executive director, David Meeks, met a few miles away. “I’m going to call it Lucky,” Baker said when Meeks arrived to help assess the situation. Meeks took the fawn. Within minutes the little buck was standing in the cab of Meeks’ truck. “We get a lot of calls about deer,” Meeks explained. “But never in all my years of working with animals has something like this happened.” Many calls to the park are about injured deer or from well-meaning citizens who have found a young fawn in the woods and thinking it abandoned, have picked it up and brought it home. Problems usually occur when people try to intervene, regardless of their good intentions. "Many people who come upon a solitary spotted fawn in the woods or along a roadway mistakenly assume the animal has been deserted by its mother and want to take the apparently helpless creature home to care for it," said Charles Ruth, Deer/Turkey Project supervisor for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR). "It’s part of nature’s plan for a doe deer to leave her fawn or fawns alone for their first few weeks of life," Ruth said. "The reason for this unusual maternal action is that the fawn at this age is better protected away from the doe. The presence of the doe nearby would attract predators because the doe lacks the protective coloration of the fawn, and the older and larger doe has a much stronger odor." “A fawn that appears abandoned is merely awaiting a visit from its mother,” according to Ruth. Deer don’t make good pets, so don’t adopt a “lost” fawn.” “When I explain to folks who have a baby they’ve found in the woods, what has likely happened, they’ll ask me if they can take it back. The answer is yes, but only if it’s done quickly. The human scent might make the mother hesitant, but its instinct will likely kick in and she’ll start caring for her young again,” said Meeks. “If they are concerned, people can always go check on the fawn again. If it’s still there a day later, then they have a fawn to deal with,” said animal staff supervisor Jeanne Peters. When animals are found injured, or truly abandoned, many people will call the park. Hollywild has a list of rehabilitation centers they will guide people too, just as the DNR offices will. “We’re more of a zoo than a rescue center,” Meeks said. “We’re not set up for that kind of work and want injured animals to get the care they need at the right place.” But for “Lucky” that place is at Hollywild. With now only a few scratches, he is getting the care he needs right there. The park has helped other uninjured orphans from their own herds before. Sometimes a mother will die during birth or from other complications. It’s not common, but Hollywild is prepared. The goats at the park produce an excess amount of colostrum, the nutrient rich “first milk” that a mother passes on to its young. Hollywild staffers collect and freeze extra colostrum to use for newborn animals in need. Even though not from a doe, the goat colostrum will work to help the baby survive. It is packed with essentials such as antibodies that ward off infections, a high fat content that provides the baby energy, and other nutritional support. “By (Lucky’s) development, I’d say his mother would have delivered within a day. If he’d been premature, he wouldn’t be doing as well as he is already,” said Peters. Initially, Lucky couldn’t walk very well and ate very little, about 2 ounces of milk. Peters grew concerned. She suspected problems with his neck and had his spine checked. Treatment helped to realign his small body from the damage caused by both the impact of the truck and his landing 50 feet away. The adjustment immediately corrected his posture and sharpened his appetite. The next day he started calling for his food and drank 10 ounces at his first feeding. “Since treating him, he’s eating and walking very well. He’s already become best friends with a week-old fawn named Shiloh. I’m very hopeful for him now. We certainly aren’t wildlife rehabbers, but when someone goes to extraordinary means to save a fawn like this, we’re glad we can help,” said Peters. And now “Lucky” the little buck, who was never ‘born’ by any natural means, lives, and has added himself to the long list of stars shining at Hollywild. Hollywild Animal Park is located near Inman in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, one of the most scenic and culturally diverse areas of South Carolina's Upcountry. Nestled on over 100 acres, Hollywild is home to one of the largest collections of rare and exotic animals in the Southeast. Many of our animals are "ZooperStars" of movies and commercials. For more information, visit www.hollywild.org. (Images provided by Hollywild Animal Park.)
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