Serving all the communities of the Buckeye Lake Region

Leave wildlife in the wild




COLUMBUS – Spring is here and it’s the season to enjoy spotting young wildlife. Each year, Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials offer this simple advice, enjoy wildlife from a distance and leave young animals in the wild.

Many adult wild animals will leave their young offspring alone while they forage for food, or to divert the attention of potential predators away from the more vulnerable young. When young animals are discovered with no adults in sight, the adult is often nearby waiting for people to leave the area before they retrieve their young.

Most wild animals are raised by only one adult or are not tended to during the daylight hours. In the case of white-tailed deer, a doe will hide her young from predators by leaving it alone in a secluded spot, such as a grassy meadow or a flower bed. A hidden fawn has virtually no scent and when left alone is difficult for predators to find. The doe will tend to the fawn or fawns several times each night.

It is important to leave animals in the wild. If people disturb a nest, they should replace the young animals and the nest material as close to the original location as possible. It is a myth that wildlife parents will not tend to young because of human scent.

State and federal laws protect and regulate wildlife and endangered species in Ohio. Only licensed wildlife rehabilitators, working under special permits issued by the ODNR Division of Wildlife, may possess and care for native wild animals



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *