News Releases Leave Wildlife Alone Dept. The phone rings at the desk of Dr. Pam Swift, the California Department of Fish and Game's wildlife veterinarian. The caller is a woman who was out hiking when she found a deer fawn alone near the trail.
Chances are, the fawn's mother was nearby, watching that woman pick up the fawn and take it away.
People should leave wildlife babies alone. They may look abandoned, but they're rarely alone. Once a fawn is removed from its mother, it can imprint with humans, losing the ability to survive in the wild. A deer fawn, for example, is born without any scent. That way, it can be left alone for short periods of time without much chance that a predator will find it.