The Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks is reminding citizens that during the Spring, baby animals can be a lot more visible.
A common experience for spring time is that there may be young birds on the ground and out of their nests. “Keep in mind, most fledglings leave the nest before they have begun learning to fly,” MDWFP posted on their Facebook page. “They spend days or weeks hopping around on the ground learning to forage while their adult feathers are growing in. During this time, the adults are following them around and continuing to feed them as they learn to fly. ”
Young birds and their parents are most vulnerable to free-roaming domestic pets and other wildlife during this time, so if you do see a bird that appears to need help, it’s a good bet to contact a permitted wildlife rehabber before you do anything else.
If the situation arises that you need to get an injured animal to a wildlife rehabilitator, contact MDWFP’s Jackson Office at (601) 432-2199 during business hours for wildlife rehabilitation contacts or visit Wildlife Rehabilitation.
And it’s not just birds, because while we’re still a little ways off, peak fawning for most of Mississippi is in July, but for some parts of the state it starts in mid-June.
Fawns typically start following their mother when they are three weeks old, but they’ll still stay put some of the time until they’re eight weeks old. Until then, the fawn will bed down and the doe will come by every 4-6 hours to nurse, and then eventually move them to a new spot.
So if you come across a fawn, leave it alone, because its mother probably left it there. If you move it and it can’t find its mother and it can’t nurse, its chances of survival decrease rapidly.
MDWFP
