LOCKPORT, N.Y. — White Tailed Deer are common throughout Western New York. Though much of their natural habitat has been altered or lost due to human development, they have still managed to adapt and thrive.
Of course the fact that they live so close to us means that deer-human conflict is inevitable, and thus the need for wildlife rehabilitators to care for deer should it be required.
Founder Fuzzy Scherer began Fuzzy Fawn Wildlife Rescue in an effort to fill that demand.
"We're the problem, we are. And with deer, we have a lot, the population is huge but we also keep taking the land they're living on. So, they were there first, and now you just built your house, they don't know. you just spent all that money on expensive landscape. It's their food," Scherer said.
This time of year, deer are raising young fawns, and that frequently happens near human habitation, which Scherer says often puts them in jeopardy.
"Because people take fawns, some do it accidentally, but some take it because they're cute and they just want to bottle feed. Some are hit by cars, mothers are dead, like I said, dog attacks, coyote, fox attacks," Scherer said.
Fawns are usually left alone while their mother stands guard a distance away. This leads to the misconception that the young are abandoned. It's actually Nature's way to protect them from harm.
"They don't have a strong scent at this age, and she does. So if she's on top of them, Coyotes and Foxes, they're going to smell her and not the baby, so that's why she tries to stay away, and she'll nurse them real quick, groom them, and she's gone again. But she never leaves them," Scherer said.
Though their intent may be good, those who try to rescue fawns are actually making things much more difficult.
"Just let that baby lay there, don't stress it out with your pictures and your checking, just let it be, and mom's back!" Scherer said.
The fawns in Fuzzy's care will remain so until the fall, and she says that there's no better feeling than watching them return to the wild.
"I release them where they belong, I release them in the country, in the forest, everywhere they belong."
She leaves us with this advice. "Call before you touch that fawn, that bird, that squirrel. The SPCA Wildlife Department, you can call them, they will call you back, and they have all of our resources."
More information about Fuzzy Fawn Wildlife Rescue can be found on its website.
For a link to the SPCA of Erie County Wildlife Department, click here. Their phone number is 716-875-7360, ext. 247.