Poor baby deer...

THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL DEER...

I AM JUST ADDING A PICTURE OF A MULE DEER

AND HER FAWN...

So, last week, Natalie and I are driving back home from dropping the kids off at school in the morning. We take the back roads and they sometimes get pretty winding...We are coming around a curve, and there is one truck, and one car in front of us. Well, the truck hits a baby deer. By the time Nat and I get there (she saw the whole thing) the baby is struggling to get to its feet after being knocked into the ditch. Natalie just starts bawling. I didn't know what to do, so I just kept driving. Like any normal person would, right? Well, we get about a half of a mile down the road, and Nat is still hysterical. I pulled over on a side road, (mind you, I have NO phone reception) turned around and started driving back to the deer. Natalie can't start her day and go to school like this, I am thinking. We get back to the deer, I pull over, turn around again and park in a lot. I can see the deer, but Nat can't. It is laying down. Sometimes, it picks up its little head, and looks around. I now have phone reception and start calling local vets. None are open this early. I then called Animal Control. Explained what happened, told them the deer was still alive, could they get somebody out here to help it? Sure they said. I told them where it was, they said somebody would be on their way.

I explained all of this to Natalie, somebody was going to come help the baby deer. Everything would be ok. And that because we called Animal Control, the little deer was going to live. About 5 times that day, she asked me what I thought the baby deer was doing? I told her that they probably had it in a big kennel with warm blankets and lots of food. That it probably had a cast on one or both legs. And that it was sleeping alot. The warm blankets and lots of food really comforted her.

So the next day we are driving the kids to school. She is all ready to look out the window and see if the deer was really gone...Fortunately, I knew where we were, where the deer got hit and really doubted that they got the deer in time. And damn, I was right. I could see ahead into the ditch where the little deer was still laying, this time stiff and bloated. Poor thing. I quickly said to Natalie, "LOOK AT THE GIANT ELK" and pointed in the opposite direction. (of course she missed it-the elk) but knew we passed the spot where the deer was hit. She asked me if it was still there, and I said no. She had a grin from ear to ear. "Mom, we really saved a baby deer..." Now, I had to distract her on the way back. Again and again, for four days! I did it though.

Finally, this morning when taking the kids to school again, the only thing marking the deers final resting place was a large orange cone...And again, Natalie was looking. This time I let her look. "He really is gone, mom. Do you think he is better yet?"

Poor thing. I feel sad for it's mommy...I wonder if she knows what happened...if she knows her baby is dead, if she is grieving her loss, or looking frantically in the woods, calling out for her little one. Even writing about a tiny baby deer, brings saddness flooding back to me. I sit here writing about a mommy deer and the loss of her baby, and I feel such sorrow, not only for her, but also for me.