El Corado County wildlife rescue prepares to release fawns

EL DORADO COUNTY — Fawns are getting ready to be released from Sierra Wildlife Rescue after volunteers said they have taken in more this year than they've seen in decades.

"We had more calls and took in more fawns than any other year. Generally, over the period of the 25 years I've been doing it, every year the workload grows a little bit, but this year was explosive," Dave Cook, fawn rehabilitator for Sierra Wildlife Rescue, said.

Cook has an enclosure on his property in El Dorado County. He said one-third of the fawns they take in are orphaned and the rest are injured.

"The main thing again is to feed them remotely. We do it in a way so they don't see us, the humans, so they don't become tame," Cook said.

Cook said he recently picked up number 110. He said the orphans are pretty easy to work with, but the injured fawns can be tricky.

"The older, injured fawns that come in later in the summer, the trick there is to keep them from becoming so stressed by captivity and human handling that they die of the stress," Cook said.

Sierra Wildlife Rescue has several enclosures like Cook's throughout the county.

The fawns are fed until they are big enough to be released, which is usually when they're about four months old.

Cook said donations of any kind are always appreciated, but nothing quite beats putting in time.

"To me, it's even more priceless when it's a volunteer because the money is needed, but if we're ever stretched thin, it's because of a lack of volunteer hours," Cook said.

He said the fawns should be released in the coming weeks.

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