Wild animals take care of their young in different ways than humans do. This is why it is fairly common to see a fawn or another baby animal lying in a field at this time of year.
A Senior Conservation Officer with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, Lindsey Leko, said there are good reasons humans should leave those animals alone.
"A good number of different animals give birth in the spring. Waterfowl, hawks, raccoons, and even moose will give birth in April into May. But May into June, we get deer, we get fox, skunk, and all those other types of small animals that often give birth."
He said his office has already received calls this year from people who have found a fawn out in the middle of nowhere.
"They're worried that it's been abandoned, or they're worried that the mother's not coming back for it," he noted. "So some people, unfortunately, will take it upon themselves to take it home and try to look after it, which is illegal."
Leko said people who have taken wild animals from these spots have shown they are unaware of what those animals can consume.
"I've had people drop off a deer at my house with a brand-new, newly-born fawn with a bag of grass. I've seen people try to feed it homogenized milk. I've seen Weetabix cereal. It's amazing what people think that these things will eat. That's like giving an infant a Happy Meal to eat, right?"
Aside from dietary knowledge, Leko said the best thing to do is to leave the animal alone.
"What the mother does is it actually will leave a fawn alone for anywhere from 12 to 16 hours while it rests, while it goes and looks for food, and the reason that it does this is that while the fawn is with the doe, they're more susceptible to predators. So as they're walking together, wherever they are, predators will see it. Of course, the fawn not being as mobile, is probably going to be the first to go."
"It will actually leave it laying motionless, and they've got very low odor, low scent when they're born, and they just leave them be, and they go, they rest, they feed, and then they come back periodically to check and then to feed their young. This is something that's normal. So when you see a fawn laying in the middle of a field or sometimes very close to houses because they know that maybe predators won't hang around farmhouses or around barns and stuff like that, this is a 100 per cent natural thing."
Leko said despite the 'overwhelming urge to help' that makes humans often reflexively pick up the animal, the best thing to do is put it back, and even better, leave it alone.
"They're wild animals. They have special dietary needs. The other thing we've got to remember, too, is that these animals are susceptible to disease and parasites that we may not ever think about. Like bringing baby foxes into your house so your kids can play with, well, they're vector species which carry rabies and it might not be a good ending, especially if your whole family's got to get rabies shots. So we've got to remember these things are wild."
"Mother Nature, at the end of the day, she takes care of our wildlife populations. She's the one who calls the shots, and no matter what we do to try and make it better, at the end of the day, she's the one that kind of dictates what happens. So if you take a fawn away from a field or someplace like that, you'll never know if the doe was watching."
In addition to facing fines, one risk is that the doe will attempt to stop the person from touching its fawn. Another risk is that the fawn will no longer be able to receive care from its mother after it takes on a human scent.
"The best bet, for sure, is just to leave it alone. That instinct of wanting to help - don't follow it. That's the best advice I can give you."
Leko said anyone who is concerned the animal has indeed been abandoned can contact the local wildlife rehabilitator.
"There's Salt Haven Animal Rehabilitators in Regina. It's a fantastic organization," he advised. "You can contact a conservation officer. We can give you advice, too. But I just want to reiterate, just leave them alone and do not take them home because taking them home, you've pretty much sealed the fate for the animal, but there's a highly likely chance that you're going to be prosecuted for being in possession of those animals."
"Possessing wildlife without a permit, we don't issue permits for species like that."
He said gone are the days when people would take home a wild animal and raise it on their own.
"People who have done that in the past, we've normally had to go get the animal in October, November when it starts to get into that rut season and they start getting a little rammy, they start damaging the garden. And it's bad news when you pull into a yard and the deer comes running up with the family dogs, right? You know that that is not going to be an animal that's going to be released into the wild and be successful. So, like I say, we've got to start leaving our wildlife alone. We've got to stop jumping on those urges to try and help because as much as we think we are helping, we're not."
"As much as you want to help out, you're not helping the animal at all."
So, when should we act on this urge to help?
"We've had one where the fawn is laying right next to the mother and the mother's been hit by a car. I've seen them where the mother's had impact with a vehicle and it's actually shot the fetus right out of it and the fetus is still in the sack and we get called there. You get situations where you see it and then you leave it for a couple of days and it's continuously crying, and after 24, 36 hours, it hasn't moved or if it's covered in flies or something like that, that would be a good time to contact your animal rehabilitator. They're trained to deal with it. They'll come out, they'll wear the proper equipment, and they'll be able to assist the animal properly."
"Remember, don't take it home. Make contact with us and we'll go pick it up."
He added Salt Haven Animal Rehabilitators has volunteers all over the southern part of the province who are trained to pick these animals up and take them to where they need to get treatment.