Animal Stories

This is Kramer.  He was found in the late spring of 2011, severely malnourished and dehydrated.  The devastating drought had a huge effect on all of the native wildlife.  Many does did not have enough milk to properly nourish their fawns.  Kramer was showing some neurological delays due to the malnutrition he had suffered.  His legs were very rigid, he struggled to stand, fell often, and his little feet would turn under when he tried to walk.  When he was put with some of the other fawns in our care, he struggled to keep up with them and was injuring himself when he fell.

We decided he needed just a little time alone to gain his strength, so one of our rehabbers took him to her house.  He was put in a quiet place with lots of padding and bottle fed.  He was also
given help to stand up and walk a bit to help his muscles stretch out.  Within days, he was able to stand up on his own and also lay down without falling.  His walking was still a bit stiff, but his feet were not curling under as much.

After about a week, he was getting very strong and wanting to play.  We decided to try putting him back with some of the other fawns to see how he would do.  In the picture to the right, Kramer (on the left) finds a new friend.  He was a bit smaller than the others, but he was very happy to be back with some friends!

At first just this little girl came over to him, but soon all the other fawns came over to see the new guy.  Before long they were running (Kramer too!) and playing.  We were very happy for Kramer.  All he needed was a little extra TLC to catch up with the other babies.

Fawns are released in late autumn/early winter.