In fact they were as curious about us and we were of them. One even came up to me on his very wobbly, spindly legs and smelled my leg and gave me a big goo-goo eyes look...
The other was a bit more reticent and went onto the tall grass verge but didn't go into the woods. We worried the mother doe might be injured or ill or deceased, since there was absolutely no sign of her during this 10 minute interruption of our ride...
...and it is very uncharacteristic of a momma to not be around to supervise and protect her young. We stopped at the ranger office and reported the incident to the secretary who told us, "We know about them. The mom is in the woods watching, but she's there." This sounded a bit too dismissive and nonchalant to me, so we later saw a ranger driving the trail and told him. He said there is nothing they would do. I remarked that if the mom is dead, the babies wouldn't survive, but as I feared, they still wouldn't intervene, for they simply let nature take its course. I hope the doe is in fact around and the babies are okay!
1 comment:
Oh, that is SUCH a sad story! There is nothing quite so eloquent as a deer's eyes. That fawn might even have been hoping you were its mother, Chuck. I'm almost crying here. Nature can be beautiful and cruel all at the same time, can't it?
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