Fawn given to WSU animal hospital, reminder to leave wildlife alone

While you are out hiking or enjoying the outdoors, officials are reminding you to leave wildlife alone, particularly baby animals.

Charlie Powell with Washington State University says recently a fawn was brought to the Vet Teaching hospital by the Fish and Wildlife Department. Officials had taken it from people who had thought it was abandoned, but now it will now live a life in captivity.

“It takes quite a lot of money and a lot of time to rear these up and then they are only going to go into a zoo or wildlife collection or some type of animal park somewhere and it is truly unfortunate when they have an opportunity to live in the wild instead,” says Powell.

He also reminds the community that many animals will leave their off-spring and go a short distance away to feed. Fawns are trained to stay in one spot, even if a predator comes near because otherwise they will be a meal. He says that is what makes them easy to catch, but in most cases they have not been abandoned.