Love In Lacey: Mother Deer Saved Her Babies Before She Died

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - The mother deer had been seriously injured when she was struck by a car one night last week.

Both her legs were badly broken, with compound fractures. She was bleeding. But her terrible injuries didn't stop her from doing what she could to take care of her two baby fawns.

A deer rehabber received a call that night that someone had seen the mother deer hit by a car before she ran into the woods, John Bergmann, director of the Associated Humane Societies Popcorn Park Animal Shelter said on his Facebook page.

The caller thought the deer might have recently given birth. But volunteers couldn't find her in the dark.

Toms River Animal Control officers found the mother deer the next day, he said.

"She was there the next morning and so were two fawns that she had placed in separate yards for their safety, and this poor mom with two broken legs was trying to feed them," Bergmann said. "By now she couldn’t even get up. She had to be humanly euthanized."

The fawns were saved and brought to Popcorn Park, where they were cared for, then taken to a wildlife rehabber, he said.

"Both are doing fine along with some other fawns that could not be reunited with their moms," he said. "They will all be cared for and raised together with as little as possible human contact so they can released to a safe area when old enough."

Photos: Courtesy of John Bergmann, Director of Associated Humane Societies Popcorn Park Animal Shelter.