| We had a little day old Roe deer brought to Littleborough on a Wednesday evening by a soldier, who had just returned from Iraq. He was walking through a wildlife park with his girlfriend and came across the fawn constantly calling for its mother. Unfortunately the mother was dead in the stream nearby. Children had found the fawn and were chasing it around. The man phoned a number of large animal organisations and was told that he should put the fawn back as the mother would come for it, he mentioned that the mother was dead, but they still told him to put it back. This would have been good advice if the mother had still been alive. We agreed to take it in, even though we had never raised a deer before. We contacted the vet and a lady who raised baby deer to make sure that we were doing everything right. Bambi, as my children called him, seemed to get stronger and stronger. On dry days we would have a little trot out to make sure that his muscles developed as he slowly grew. He had a bowl of soil to lick every day, this apparently gives them the vitamins that they need and different bits of vegetation to taste. He slept in the corner of my bedroom every night. When he was hungry I made sure that I woke up to bottle feed him. He spent most of the day fast asleep under my desk, only waking to drink his bottle or to stretch his legs round the office. The girls, who did not see him every day, noticed a difference in his size and I noticed his many teeth growing through his gums. In the short time that we had Bambi he made a big impact. Even the hardest of people said "aw" when they saw him. After the ten days that he was with us, I noticed a difference in his behaviour late on the Friday evening, he did not want his bottle. I spoke to the vet and the lady who had reared fawns before. They suggested it was a tummy ache and should improve by the next day, they were right, in the morning he could not get enough of his milk. I phoned the vet and he told me that Bambi was trying to make up for the missing feeds and not to let him drink too much. After the first feed I limited his intake of milk to the normal amount. On the Saturday, Bambi spent the day gamboling and jumping around the garden, chasing my children. In the evening he was fairly quiet as usual, but feeding from his bottle. Just after 1.00am Bambi acted a little odd, I put this down to a tummy ache from drinking too much milk in the morning. To make sure that he was okay I slept with him in front of the fire under a duvet. All was well until 8.45 in the morning when he was really weak. I called the vet and was advised to take him straight to him. Unfortunately, Bambi had forgotten to breathe properly when guzzling his milk and had taken a little milk into his lungs. This had led to a secondary infection and pneumonia. Bambi had to be put to sleep on the eleventh day. We were so lucky to share this time with him. My children and I came away from the vets in tears. I just wish that I could have given him a longer time with us. Sometimes this job is so depressing. You and your staff try your hardest and give it everything you have and sometimes this does not work. |
