By JEFF BURBINK
Extension Educator, Purdue Extension Elkhart County

Jeff Burbrink

It’s a wonderful time of the year to be outdoors and experience nature at its most glamourous. For the past few weeks, animals like deer, rabbits and birds have been scurrying to find food and shelter for their little ones.

I do get calls from time to time from people who believe they have found an abandoned fawn, rabbit, nestling, or other creature. My first advice is to leave the animal alone! 

As humans, we have a hard time understanding this concept. Our young cannot fend for themselves for several years after they are born. We want to extend that human reality to animals, and care for seemingly abandoned baby animals, but many wildlife infants are born with survival instincts more advanced than human infants.

Wildlife babies are capable of being left alone. Rabbit for instance, mature very quickly, leaving the nest after three weeks as small versions of their parents. A small baby rabbit with erect ears and open eyes does not need assistance. If you find a rabbit nest, leave it alone and try to keep your dog or cat from discovering it. 

When it comes to baby birds, there are two types, nestlings and fledglings. Nestlings are featherless, or may have down, and are not able to move around or perch. Fledglings are juveniles with feathers but might be a little too young to fly. Nestlings should be placed back in the nest, with a clean hands or gloves. If the nest is down, pick up what you can and place it back in the location if that is practical. If too much of the nest is destroyed, you could try to recreate the form of the nest with a cloth or bottom of a plastic container. 

Fledgling birds may seem vulnerable, but in reality, taking them from the area to “help” them is akin to kidnapping. Rest assured the parents are lurking about, there to help if needed. Some species, like blue jays, will aggressively protect their fledglings until they can fly. The best thing you can do is keep cats and dogs away from the area for a while do they do not kill the bird. 

As for fawns, people often find them curled up in bushes or in the woods, and assume they have been abandoned. This is usually not the case. Young deer cannot keep up with the doe, so the doe will place the fawn in a suitable hiding place and go search for food. The fawn’s instinct is to stay still in hopes a predator, such as a dog or coyote, will not attack. If the fawn is still in the same location after 12 hours, then there is a possibility the fawn may be orphaned. So the best advice is to leave it in place. 

Handling a wild animal can be hazardous to its health. You may have read about the person who found a “cold” bison at a national park recently, and hauled it to a ranger station in an SUV. The young bison was eventually euthanized because the herd would not allow the young bison to rejoin the group. 

It is also important to remember that even young animals can scratch and bite, and are potential carriers for disease or parasites that can jump to humans. When in doubt, the best rule of thumb is to enjoy wildlife at a distance.