Baby fawn on dirt road. Photo Submitted
On June 1, Vermilionite Russ Cameron came across a fawn on a drive down a dirt road. He guessed that the fawn was dead as it was lying down on the road immobile, but upon further inspection, he discovered that the fawn was alive, yet unable to move. “There was just so much life in his eyes,” Cameron states. Cameron explains that he called Brian Chrisp, a cattleman who lives near where Cameron found the fawn. Chrisp observed that the fawn was a newborn and that without help, it wouldn’t survive more than two hours. It was Chrisp who helped Cameron decide what to do with the fawn, and together they agreed to take it to the Vermilion Vet Clinic. Cameron emphasized the willingness of Vet Clinic employee Sam Willis to take the fawn into the clinic. “They set everything aside for this little deer,” Cameron states. The Clinic reportedly fed the fawn and kept him for the day while waiting to hear back from a Wildlife Rescue about the best course of action. After receiving direction from the rescue, Dr. Brandi Suva from the Vet Clinic returned the fawn to the approximate area in which Cameron found it, where a doe seemed to be waiting in a nearby field. The next morning, Vet Clinic staff checked on the fawn, which was no longer where they had left him. It is presumed to be reunited with its mother. “It was one of the most touching moments of my life,” Cameron commented. “I couldn’t have done it without the Vermilion Vet Clinic... I just help the heroes,” he adds in a chuckle.