From the Winnipeg Free Press:
Members of a Manitoba Hutterite colony found the fawn in a ditch, its umbilical cord still attached, and brought the orphaned animal into their sanctuary. They hand-fed the deer fresh-baked bread and its favourite beverage: sweet tea. Children frolicked with their cuddly pet and the community laughed when the deer came to church one Sunday. They called him Bambi. Manitoba Conservation officers killed Bambi Saturday on a colony street while the animal’s foster families watched in horror.
“They shot him right in the front lawn and there were quite a few of us watching from the windows,” said Evie-Lynn Maendel, who lives on the Windy Bay Colony, located near Pilot Mound in southwestern Manitoba. ” I saw him fall and he was thrashing around for about a minute. It was hard to see for everyone.”
Fuck. Not okay. Sometimes things happen in life that require a more nuanced solution that idiotic adherence to normally good rules and policy designed to protect both the public and animals. Maybe Manitoba’s government should bring in legislation to make it easier for people in rural areas to give sanctuary to orphaned wildlife.
Of course that’s probably an overreaction too. the best solution would’ve been to offer some support to a community that did a good, Christian thing for an animal.
This is a catastrophic failure of decency, humanity and wisdom. It’s also a profound example of laziness. And cowardice.
Do better, humans.
Mistake #1 was to pick up the fawn in the first place. Anyone who knows anything about wildlife knows that an apparently abandoned baby animal or bird may not be; the mother might not be visible, but she’s very likely in the vicinity and will return. The second mistake was to attempt, too late, to return the animal to the wild. By then, the mother had moved on, and even if she hadn’t, her baby would smell foreign to her and she would reject it. The next mistake was not to call the wildlife officials ASAP, before the fawn became conditioned to think that all humans and dogs are friendly, and that any behaviour around them will be tolerated. Sooner or later, the deer would either have hurt someone as its instincts came to the fore, or it would have met strange dogs or coyotes, with a predictable result.
This incident was sad and so preventable; well-meaning people screwed with nature.
It’s noteworthy that the complaint to the officials came from someone in the colony. Obviously, not everyone thought that the “adoption” was a good idea. Frankly, I’m surprised at the original lack of judgement. Hutterites live in the country, and if anyone should know how to comport themselves alongside nature, it should be them.
Why the gunplay? Was this a killer deer?
Read the article, Talbot.
Shooting un-tame deer is good.