After two sightings in 10 days, the head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section is urging residents not to panic or lay hands on fawns they see in yards or otherwise near their homes.
This fawn was photographed May 13 in a yard off of Woodridge Drive. The soccer goal was positioned to shield the newborn deer from the spray of an automated sprinkler system, police said. Photo published with permission from its owner
The baby deer are being born now and their moms, having adapted to the area, are leaving them in proximity to residences because they’re safe places, sometimes for up to seven hours, according to Officer Allyson Halm.
“People are freaking out because they think the fawns are dying or dead or abandoned,” Halm said. “The newborns tend to stay in one place when they’re left alone. A major danger to the animals is that landscapers or others who come across the young animals are picking them up and moving them. It’s risky to put a human scent on a fawn. They are designed to be odorless so that nothing [no predators] can find them. Once an odor is found, they’re at risk or sometimes their own mom will reject them.”
A fawn photographed Monday morning on Ferris Hill Road. Photo published with permission from its owner
If an animal is touched by a human, one way to try and undo the damage is to rub them with a towel that’s been rolled in dirt and grass, Halm said.
Animal Control received one call at 11:09 a.m. Monday about a fawn in a yard on Ferris Hill Road, and another last week from Woodridge Drive off of West Road, where a family with a young dog had a fawn in its yard.
Halm said the family agreed to keep its puppy away from the yard for 24 hours—it’s good practice to leave a fawn alone for one full day, she said—and the young animal seems to have moved on.
In the Woodridge Drive case, the fawn had been left originally in the path of a sprinkler system’s spray, so it was decided to position a soccer goal in such a way that the fawn was spared from the water (see photo).
According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the white-tailed deer mating or “rutting” season runs from October to January, with a peak time in October. Fawns generally are born in June and remain under their mother’s care through September.
“Frequently, well-meaning people find a fawn alone in the woods and bring it home without realizing that the doe was nearby all the time,” the DEEP said. “To divert the attention of predators, female deer only visit their fawns three or four times a day, for about 15 minutes per visit, in order to feed them.”
It seems to be instinctive for the fawns to play dead. My son and I were bicycling on Laurel Road a few years ago when we came across a doe and fawn crossing the street. They were startled by us (we were coming around one of the many curves), so the mother ran off and the fawn played dead in the middle of the road. My son and I moved several yards away in opposite directions to warn off any cars (none came), and eventually the mother returned, nudged her fawn off the road, and they continued into the woods.
Steve, you are a good soul and a good teacher for your son. It is so important to educate the people who live in these wooded areas. I hope our Animal Control Officer will send a letter to The Advocate asking that it be printed with this information. Thanks.