16:57
Left-behind fawn heals and goes home to mom
Darius shares his yard with deer and at least one bear. So when a whitetail doe had twin fawns there, he had a front-row seat, and then a problem. more
One of the fawns had a hurt leg. Little by little, the mother stopped coming back for her and stayed with the healthy twin. Left on her own, the little one had no real chance.
Darius stepped in. People are usually told to leave wild animals alone, but he could see he was her only hope. He took the fawn in, fed her from a bottle and gave the leg time to heal. She got used to him fast and started following him everywhere.
His dogs helped in their own way. A big Bernese Mountain Dog stays right beside her out on the grass, gentle and in no hurry.
SaveThen there's the tail. When she's happy, most of all at a feeding, that little tail wags just like a dog's.
Once the leg healed, it was time to find her family. Darius knew nobody could replace a real mom, and her mother was still somewhere nearby with the twin. One evening he took the fawn out to the field to see who would come.
He gave her his shirt, her favorite, and she started chewing on his clothes while he tried not to move too fast. Then the deer came toward them. They stopped and stared, as if to ask what on earth was going on.
Out in that field, the fawn was back with her mother. Young deer stand alert in the tall grass by the trees, one half hidden, wild again.
SaveSomewhere out in that grass is a deer who once wagged like a dog at a bottle and spent her early days beside a Bernese Mountain Dog.


















