Baby deer rescued after run-in with glass door

PENNSYLVANIA -- Two quick-thinking car wash employees helped save a baby deer Tuesday afternoon in Rock Hill after the animal bolted across Cherry Road and ran into a glass door.

The fawn – no more than three months old, according to York County Animal Control – had a few scratches but was mostly in good health after being captured.

Express Car Wash employee Santana Johnson helped save the
baby deer after it crossed Cherry Road on Tuesday afternoon.

Santana Johnson and Brandi Carter, both of Rock Hill, spotted the fawn as it ran into the lot at Express Car Wash on Cherry Road, across from the city of Rock Hill’s water treatment plant.

The baby deer came out of nowhere, Johnson said, and after hitting a glass door, the animal was disorientated and looked to be gathering enough strength to cross Cherry Road again.

Johnson told her co-workers: “She’s not going in the road again.”

As Johnson gently pinned down the exhausted fawn, her co-workers dialed 911 and fetched water for the animal.

A baby deer rests in the Animal Control truck after she ran across
Cherry Road and hit her head on the glass door of a car wash.
Employees held her down until Animal Control arrived.
She was scratched but otherwise unharmed.

The animal was shaking and nervous, she said, but started to drink some water while everyone waited for an animal control to arrive.

Jonathan Mitchell, animal control officer on scene, said he’s never picked up a deer. He’s been with York County Animal Control for one year.

Earlier Tuesday, Mitchell had picked up dogs and cats, he said, but the baby deer was an unusual rescue.

Carter and Johnson helped Mitchell put a towel on the fawn’s head and load her into the animal control truck, where she waited for the Department of Natural Resources to arrive.

Animal control cannot house deer but the dark, air-conditioned back of Mitchell’s truck was the safest place for the fawn while DNR officials were en-route.

It’s unlikely that the fawn’s mother was killed by a hunter, Mitchell said, because deer season does not start until next month.

DNR officials will take the fawn, he said, and put her in a rehabilitation center if necessary.

(The Herald - Aug 27 2013)