The Fawns June 24, 2016

Three weeks ago, I watched two white-spotted fawns following their mother across the newly mown pasture.  The doe headed to a little gap in the wooden fencing, and one of the gangly pair followed her directly through the narrow passage.  But the other fawn got confused and discovered itself trapped near me.  We looked at each other in desperation, but I didn’t know how to help.  As a mother I had to ask, “Ms. Doe, how could you not look back to make sure your child was following?”

The little fawn was agitated, and started trying to find other ways out of the field.  He eventually settled into a waiting position, nestled between the uncut grass and a wire fence, through which he stared in the direction of his mother.  She was nowhere to be seen.

Saddened, but pressed for time, I had to leave and I wondered what would become of the lost fawn.  He was not there when I returned, and sure enough, in another few days I saw the trio together again, babies sucking vigorously.  By the end of the following week, they were already starting to lose their spots.  After a few more days, I saw the mother again with only one fawn; together they were lingering near my house, as if to wait for the other one to catch up.  “Not again!” I thought to myself.  And sadly, I haven’t seen any of them since.