Beth Blacken, customer service representative for the Kalamazoo County Animal Services & Control Department, said a caller reported the situation at about 10:50 Wednesday morning.
The fawn was alongside Vincent Street in Portage, where it had been since the day before, approaching people on the street, the caller said.
People had attempted to give the fawn water, officer Mark Vanderberg was told.
He could see where its mother had been killed, important when considering what to do with apparently abandoned fawns, Blacken said.
"Their mothers may leave them for many hours when they are foraging for food," she said. "But in this case, because we could see the mother had been killed, we knew the fawn needed help."
In Michigan, only licensed rehabilitators are allowed to take on the task of raising fawns and sheltering injured whitetail deer until they can be returned to the wild.
"They need to go to a place that knows how to raise them to be released," Blacken said. "Wildlife refuges have the space to raise them in a wild environment, so they will know how to fend for themselves.
Although dealing with wildlife is generally handled by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Blacken said the Animal Services Department will always respond to calls if an animal is injured or sick. "We will always go out to evaluate the situation," she said.
(MLive - June 6, 2013)
