I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Being little is hard.
One of the key features of littleness is also being young. And being young carries with it a host of problems.
The biggest problem being not knowing anything and having to learn everything!
Remember Doe 8367? She was an ambassador at Cherry Springs State Park for years.
That is until she met her demise at the “hands” of a bumper (Red dot on the map). By our calculations, she crossed that road thousands of times in her lifetime. She was experienced and “street smart.”
But one wrong move spelled disaster for her and the vehicle that was unfortunate enough to make contact.
At the time of the incident, Ms. 8367 was training her son. We caught her bouncing baby boy on June 1, 2015. We knew him as Fawn 8859. She did an excellent job caring for him getting him through the first 5 critical months of his life.
Then one day she was gone.
By the time his mother exited his life, Fawn 8859 was self-sufficient. He certainly was not physically dependent on her but perhaps he could have used a few more road-crossing lessons. We were able to keep tabs on him until January 2016, when his radio collar dropped off the air.
Fawn 8859 was relocated again 1 month after his first birthday…along East Fork Rd…in a ditch (Green dot on the map). That’s right 8859 has met the same fate as his mother. Being only a year old, perhaps he forgot some of the lessons mom taught him about crossing a road.
But then again, she didn’t do so well with it herself.
-Jeannine Fleegle, biologist
PGC Deer and Elk Section
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