Few things in nature are as cute as a week old fawn, but sometimes nature isn’t always pretty. I’ve remodeled this post from one posted last year because, evidenced by our incoming phone calls, it's that time of year again and our education is needed. The most important thing to keep in mind is:

The best thing to do if you see a fawn sitting alone is to resist the urge to interfere.

Mother deer will frequently leave their fawns for several hours at a time (sometimes the entire day or longer) as they are not strong enough to keep up with her as she forages, nor are they eating solid foods yet. Unless the baby is showing obvious signs of distress you can be certain that the mother will return, perhaps closer to dusk when she feels it is safe to do so.

While many of us have an idyllic image of deer dashing through forests and grazing in wide open fields (plenty of which exist in the southeastern Wisconsin region), but it is actually common to see deer in town, especially in quite, grassy subdivisions. It is also quite common, believe it or not, to find a fawn resting in your front flower bed one day.

Don’t worry when this happens, the mother of this adorable creature with the biggest, wettest eyes you’ve probably ever seen will come back.

It may be difficult to resist the urge to move the baby to a safer location if it’s near a road or even just a shady spot if it’s in the sun, but its best chance at survival is to stay with its mother. She is perfectly capable of getting up, however wobbly, and moving if she becomes uncomfortable or senses danger.

It’s important to keep in mind with all baby animals that even when found alone, they are rarely actually orphaned. With deer, unfortunately, we face another issue: in Waukesha County (as well as many other Wisconsin counties) chronic wasting disease regulations do not allow the rehabilitation of deer or rearing of fawns.

We want what’s best for each potential patient we take in and that means keeping them with their natural parents in their natural environment in as many cases as possible. If a fawn is abandoned it will show clear signs of distress like running around and crying continuously (for several hours straight, not just a bit of crying after being startled by the lawnmower or the family dog). Even though we can’t raise them here, if they are exhibiting these behaviors and they are young enough that they actually allow you to capture them, then they are too young to survive on their own and the outcome will ultimately be their starvation.

If you have questions about a fawn or any animal that you think needs help, please contact the Wildlife In Need Center or a rehabilitator in your area before you do anything else.

Hung Up

The other day we received a phone call from a gentleman who claimed that while hiking the woods behind his home he and his children had seen a hawk dangling from a tree by one leg. He hadn’t been able to get close enough to tell if there was something tangled up on the leg or what it could be which made the assessment of the situation much more difficult.

He described that it was fairly wooded in and the ground was quite moist from the freezing and thawing streak we had been experiencing. And the bird was several feet from the tree trunk and 15 to 20 feet above the ground. I was at a loss. Even in the winter we are often too busy to send a staff member out for a rescue, and rely on volunteers to assist us with these situations. But how was I going to pin-point a volunteer able to attempt this feat?

Right away we contacted our volunteers who specialize in baby owl re-nesting since they have the equipment needed to climb high trees to put owlets back into their nests. When one finally notified us that he would be available I contacted the caller back to get an update on the situation.

The story gets interesting at this point because the children in the family reported that the hawk had by this point been able to right itself onto the branch but still no one had been able to get a good enough view to discern what, if anything, had caused the bird to be tangled up and hanging from the tree. They suggested that it had been hanging of it’s own accord by its talons, but this is not a normal behavior for hawks so I was still very concerned that the bird was wedded to the tree somehow.

We had a volunteer who wasn’t experienced in owl re-nesting, but who happened to live close by, go out to the site to visit with the callers and see if he could get any more information on the birds (another bird, presumably a mate, had shown up on the scene at this point). When he called back and informed us that not only had both birds “flown the coop” but that he had been shown the pictures taken when the bird was first sighted and it appeared that it had been hanging by its talon; everyone was shocked.

It didn’t take long before someone postulated that there was really no reason to be confused by the situation because there was a simple answer that no one had yet thought of…

It may seem cold and frigid to most of us, but for our wild neighbors love is in the air. Squirrels are performing acrobatics in the trees, the groundhogs are starting to stir in their burrows, and the owls and hawks are starting to seek out their mates and claim their nesting territories. I’ve never seen, but have heard, that when hawks are courting they can be witnessed doing some pretty amazing stunts like grasping talons and falling out of the sky. I’ve heard it described as appearing as though they are “fighting.”

A face only a mother Red-tail could love???

What likely happened, and this really is the best way this story could’ve ended, is that during one of this pairs’ “stunts” one of the hawks lost control and fell into the tree, perhaps grasping the limb to keep from continuing to the ground. We don’t know how long the hawk was there before the family discovered it, perhaps it was a coincidence that they happened along just after it occurred. Once the bird, with its amazing agility, was able to right itself it probably just needed a few moments for the shock to wear off, with its mate there ready to lead it off again. We are VERY glad that there wasn’t anything hanging the bird up and wish these two a happy and successful year. For those poor birds who DO get caught up on wire, string and other debris left behind by humans please keep the following in mind:

• Nets for outdoor games should always be taken in or down when not in use
• Fishing line, especially with lures or bait still attached, should never be left behind
• Kite strings and other types of strings should always be wound up and tied off before discarding

Canadian Geese in Wisconsin Falls

No, I don’t mean the Dells. Whether you like them or not, Canada Geese are a big part of the fall landscape in southeastern Wisconsin. Large flocks descend on recently harvested corn fields and area lakes and streams. This is also the time of year when caring people will start to notice those unfortunate souls who get left behind.

Just today I answered a half dozen calls each regarding a different goose in similar situations. Our mission to rehabilitate any wild animal native to Wisconsin remains the same regardless of the time of year, but the calls and patients we get in the fall, especially the latter part of the season are some of the most difficult for both the animals as well as the people involved.

Of course each situation is different, but many have the same obstacles to overcome:

• The goose spends most of its time on water where it is difficult or impossible for a human (or any other predator) to catch him
• The goose can still run even when she does come out of the water making it easier for her to duck, dive and hide in the bushes where she’s safe from predators (us)

The other reason many of the calls we receive about geese this time of year are difficult is that injuries sustained a few weeks (in some cases even a few months) ago are unlikely to be repairable. If an injury is severe enough to keep a bird from doing what comes natural to it, namely flying, and it goes unnoticed and untreated for too long, the chance that we will be able to re-set it and convince it to heal properly is small. Due to regulations and the inability to survive if done so, we cannot generally just amputate the injured area. Even if we could, the animals overall health is often not good enough to ensure their survival through the process or follow-up care.

If you see a goose, duck or other type of waterfowl that you think needs help please gather the following information before contacting your nearest rehabilitator.

• Where has the animal been seen most often and how near is it to water
• What behaviors (holding out or dragging one wing, noticeably limping, unable to balance) are you witnessing that could help us pinpoint the injury
• How close has a person walking been able to get to the animal before it responds (ie. tries to run away, dives into the water, or perhaps it can’t move at all)

With geese that aren’t yet approachable but are obviously injured the best situation would be for someone frequenting the area to offer up small tidbits of food like cracked corn, rolled oats or bird seed. This lulls the animal into a sense of security and will hopefully give that individual or one of our volunteers a better chance at getting close enough to contain the animal when it is up and away from the water's edge.

If you have any questions about an animal you think needs help always contact your local rehabilitator for advice and guidance.

What’s that Bird?

“My granddaughter came over to visit and she has found a baby bird in the backyard,” says the caller on the other line. Then she says “I think it’s a baby hawk.” Sure, well, the first questions we ask are the same regardless of the type of bird: Are there obvious injuries; does it have feathers or is it still fuzzy; do you know where the nest is; have you seen the parents; how long has it been there… This bird wasn’t too far from us so we recommended bringing it to us so we could evaluate it, especially if it was a young raptor that may need to be re-nested by a trained volunteer.


The granddaughter was a bit older than we had envisioned and she was able to pick the bird up in a shirt; bringing him into the Center in a canvas shopping bag. The most surprising thing about this story however, is that it actually was a juvenile Cooper’s hawk!


Yes, that is what she said it was, but it’s a common occurrence to receive calls about “baby hawks” that turn into infant Mourning Doves when they arrive at the Center. We also get a lot of American Robins - while it’s true we do actually admit numerous robins, many other small birds ranging from European Starlings to Song Sparrows to House Finches come in claiming to be a member of the proud red-breasts as well. We never make people feel bad for not knowing the difference; the truth is there are always patients coming in that even we don’t know at first glance, especially baby birds! By working as a team and with a network; talking to other staff and volunteers, attending conferences, reading journals, posting blogs, and partnering with other rehabilitators however, we find the answers we don’t know and also try our best to share that information. And that’s a good thing because for many of the people we do talk to, there aren’t a lot of other resources for them to get the answers they’re looking for. We love to hear from people that know about and care about our wild neighbors as much as we do, but we love to help people learn about our wild neighbors just as much.


It isn’t something we’re often known for, but we are more than “just an animal charity.” An article in our recent newsletter examined the ways in which we help the people in our communities as well. While we are here for the animals (whatever they may turn out to be) it is the volunteers, members, staff, supporters and community who have always been the heart of the Wildlife In Need Center.

One Day in the Wild-life

Do you ever wonder what the phone calls are like here at WINC? Did you even know that we answered a variety of questions ranging from the natural history of various Wisconsin animals to animal emergencies over the phone 7 days a week?

"This blog is dedicated to all of those people who make each day in the Wildlife In Need Center office interesting, exciting, frustrating, wonderful, awful, helpful, sad, happy, amazing, crazy and rewarding."

Our hope is that by publishing the answers to these questions we can help more people, and more animals, who are dealing with the same or similar situations. Enjoy!