|
Occoquan Watershed Coalition
|
Archives
|
||||||
| Courtesy of The Washington Post, May 30, 2002 © 2002 The Washington Post Company Wildlife Often Best Left Alone By Sarah Mark Washington Post Staff Writer |
|
Some Fairfax County residents could be a little too citified for the wildlife they are encountering. Recently, several people have taken fawns and other wildlife to the county animal shelter when they should have left well enough alone, according to county wildlife biologist Earl L. Hodnett.
Hodnett urges residents to avoid picking up unweaned fawns and other young wildlife found alone in woods or fields during May and June. Many people incorrectly assume that an animal is orphaned, Hodnett said, and unnecessarily intervene. In spring, people often encounter fawns and other young animals, such as birds, rabbits and squirrels. Fawns spend more than 90 percent of their time away from the doe, which is only with its baby during nursing periods for the first two months of the fawn's life. Birds leave the nest before they can fly. Very young rabbits venture out alone for short forays. "As our human population has become more urbanized, we have been isolated from nature and what is normal," Hodnett said. Touching wildlife or moving it to a safer spot is only appropriate if the animal is injured or under direct threat, such as from the family cat, he said. Before taking action, residents should contact their local animal shelter, nature center, wildlife rehabilitator or state wildlife agency for advice. A 6-day-old female fawn was brought in by a county resident and is now being cared for by a state-licensed wildlife rehabilitator, who will prepare it for eventual release to the wild. However, the fawn's prospects for coping in the wild would have been better if it had not been "rescued" by a well-meaning passerby, Hodnett said. |