Ever have one of those days when it feels like the world is just crashing down on you and you just want to give up, curl into a little ball and never get back up? Well, I’ve had one of those days for a couple of days now and hope by sharing it with you all that you’ll understand a bit more about what it is that we DO.
We do so much more than just rescuing and rehabilitating sick and orphaned wildlife. Yes, we rescue and rehabilitate animals every day, but we also rescue people from themselves. I’ll try to give you the Reader’s Digest condensed version of this story and I won’t name names to protect the ignorant. I do so hope those involved read this and know what they’ve done. How their obnoxious need to play God turned out.
On Saturday a call came in from a man who said he had a pregnant doe in his truck that had been hit by a car and was unconscious. He was told to stop! Take her out of the truck and put her back where she was found! Now, I can almost hear the audible gasp from everyone, but there is a reason behind our madness. Several, actually.
One reason being, adult deer kill more humans than any other animal. They are incredibly flighty and they are terrified of us and rightly so. Most times when hit by a car they are stunned. We’ve seen them lie down for 24 hours and then suddenly get up and shoot off like a rocket into the woods! They are completely unpredictable in these situations. So, imagine a scenario where this deer wakes up in this mans truck….He tells us, that he has called a local vet clinic and they’ve told him if he can get the deer to them they’ll gladly help it. How noble of them, right? WRONG. They should have known better!
Did anyone stop to think this through? To think beyond wanting to ‘save’ her? So, we give the vet’s office a call and explain to them that they’re about to receive an adult deer and that we recommend they euthanize it. Oh no they say, we can’t do that. We’ve got this all under control and we’re just fine and don’t need your help – we’ve done this before. We say, are you sure you understand that this is an adult deer and we do not take them because they are dangerous? Yes ma’am we’re told, it’s under control. We call again, just to make sure they understand our position. Again, we’re told they’ve got it under control.
Imagine our surprise then when we get the phone call from the vet’s office that we can come and pick up the deer now. What?!?! Did you not understand when we said we do not take them and we recommend that she be put down and if possible, save the fawn? So now we have this dilemma….what do we do? Do we let them learn this lesson the hard way? I can tell after speaking with them that they have visions of Bambi awakening from her medically induced coma and being eternally grateful for being ripped away from her fawn – as it turns out, she’s not pregnant after all, but has already given birth – and of her walking around the vet clinic with blue birds singing above her, etc.
Meanwhile, we are thinking if she wakes up, she’s going to go bezerk and trash the clinic and end up killing one of these girls out of fear. So, at this time our choices are to let them learn this lesson the hard way and risk someone getting themselves killed or to go and rescue the ‘rescuers’ from themselves.
In the end, we choose to save these people from themselves and try to remove the doe. We load her, hog tied and still unconscious into a Chevy Blazer. We’re told we’ll have about thirty minutes before she wakes up so we have to hurry. One of us drives the car, the other lies on the doe to hold her down during the 20 minute trip to my home in the country. We gently get her to the ground with the hopes that she will eventually awaken from the anesthesia and go about her business bruised and sore, but alive. Unfortunately, that is not reality and somewhere along the trip home, the bluebirds flew the coop and the fairytale ended.
The doe thrashed and kicked her way on her side around my yard most of the night, scraping what skin the car didn’t take from her, off of her body and face. By morning, she’s being attacked by fire ants and bees. I want so badly to bring her water, to comfort her in some way. Somehow let her know that she’s not alone in her desperation, but she’s thrashing so much that it’s not safe to get close to her. She’s trying desperately to get up, but can’t muster enough strength to do so.
I sit and watch her and I cry. I desperately want her to get up and go. In my mind I pray that she will somehow mistake the orphan fawn I am raising as her own in her confusion and allow it to nurse from her. I pray that she will find relief soon. She’s trying so hard at this point to get up that we’re now not sure what to do for her. Do we let her try a few more hours? Do we put her out of her pain and misery now when she’s trying so hard? What if she can’t get up? What if she can?
Several more hours go by. The temperature here in SC reaches well up into the high 90’s. She can barely catch a breath. She’s thrashed herself out into the middle of the yard in direct sunlight, but she’s trying with everything she has to get on her feet. Her front legs won’t support her and she falls to her face time and time again. I watch helplessly from the window in my air conditioning and I cry some more. I cry for her, I cry for my fawn that seems traumatized by it all and has decided not to eat that day when just yesterday she would suckle on my arms and legs or whatever else she could latch onto until I could get the bottle into her hungry mouth.
I call Tresa, my mentor and my friend and cry on her shoulder. Tresa, being a Wildlife Biologist sees things from a more scientific view than I am able to see the world. She explains that this is normal for an animal waking from anesthetic and while she should never have been allowed to get to this point, we have to let her try now after she’s worked so hard. Another hour ticks by and she has now thrown herself under my chain link fence into a nearby field. She’s heading downhill and her struggle to stand only gets more tiring and less of a possibility for her. I worry more now because there is a creek near her and I worry that she might fall into the creek and drown.
Tresa comes and pulls her by her thrashing hind legs under a big oak tree into some thick, comfy grass. We wet a towel and cover her to try and cool her down. Another friend, Pat and I stand in my kitchen and cry some more for this poor, helpless animal. We call another friend and rehabber and discuss our options. Do we put her out of her misery after all of this time when she’s finally waking? We decide that we’ll give her the night and make a decision in the morning.
I go back inside and start taking care of my other animals only to find that a beloved baby raccoon that had lived despite being shaken by a dog is now hemorrhaging and in the process of dying. I cry some more. I just don’t think I can take it any more.
I woke up yesterday morning before dawn and walk out to feed the fawn. She finally drinks hungrily and I am relieved. The doe has not moved from under the tree, but has worn a hole in the grass in a complete circle where she has twirled in a circle all night. She’s skinned and raw over her whole body, even her eyes are now bleeding and I can’t take it any more. I make the call to Tresa and arrangements are made to put her out of her misery once and for all. She’s not going to get up and run off to live happily in the forest where she belongs. We humans saw to that didn’t we? So much for ‘saving’ her.
I come home from work early to be there when it happens. I know she doesn’t know I am there, but I just feel the need to be there. I go look for my fawn, which, by this time of day is usually bedded down in a thicket near the back of the fence. She is nowhere to be found. I call out to her and she doesn’t come running…..she is dead under a tree in my yard. I am devastated. She was so close to being released and it’s such a bitter pill to swallow on top of everything else. Did the does stress affect her? Is that what caused her to stop eating? Who knows, but my mind is working over time trying to think what I could have done differently and beating myself up over it.
There are days I want to quit. There are days I want to rant and rave at the injustice of it all. To REALLY tell people what I think of them and the decisions they make because they think they know it all. They think the rules and laws don’t apply to them. I want to call the vet clinic, which I hold totally responsible for every single moment that this deer suffered and I want to explain in minute detail what I have been forced to witness for the past two days. What my children have watched and agonized over while they’ve handed her over to us thinking what a great job they’ve done and gone home to enjoy the rest of their weekend with their friends and families!
I want to quit and go back to my peaceful life that didn’t include so much death. I want my children to have their lives back and not have to wake up to bottle feed a crying baby who has lost its mother. I want my house to smell like a house and not a barn. I don’t want a crow pooping on my floor any more. I don’t want bodies in my freezer being saved for an orphaned owl that has to eat too. I don’t want to bottle feed fawns around the clock for months and then suddenly find them dead. And I soooo don’t want to lose any more raccoon babies who are so human like in their need for love, cuddling and attention that it tears out a chunk of my heart each and every time. I don’t want any of this any longer!
But wait, the phone is ringing….What? Tresa gave you my number? You have an orphaned bird? Of course I can meet you after work and pick it up……
Hey everyone!!
Well, Spring has definitely sprung here at Foothills Animal Rescue! We are currently housing many baby birds, several owls, foxes, raccoons, possums, groundhogs and fawns. We are in need of the following items:
http://www.petag.com/products_details.asp?ItemID=1627&CategoryID=3&SubCategoryID=2
http://www.petag.com/products_details.asp?ItemID=1163&CategoryID=3&SubCategoryID=2
If you would like to make a donation, you can purchase these items directly from www.petag.com and have them shipped directly to us. As always, all donations are tax deductible. Just send us an email with your address when you place an order or have it included on the packing slip and we'll be happy to send you a receipt for tax purposes.
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