A very young fawn was sitting quietly on the beach as the tide started to come in. It was staying in place just as its mother had told it to.
This was essentially good, except the tide was now rising quickly and the fawn was below the high-water mark. It was a cool evening with wind blowing.
Finally, the fawn was getting wet from the rising tide and the mother had not yet returned. An observer decided to bring the fawn out of the water for the night. Now shivering and cold, the fawn was dried off and kept indoors until early morning.
Placed back above the beach and crying to be fed, the fawn soon called its mother, who was possibly even waiting, and followed her closely and quickly to a safer location.
Unlike humans, deer mothers don’t spend much time with their fawns for the first few weeks after giving birth. A doe will only visit her fawn briefly during the day to nurse it.
This is normal, natural deer behaviour that increases the chance of the fawn’s survival. Deer fawns are nearly scentless at birth, however, the doe is not scentless.
The more time she spends around the fawn, the more scent she leaves in the area, and the greater chance a predator may notice her scent and then find the fawn.
So please, don’t touch the fawns.
