06/14/2026
Not horse-related but important info to share!
I HAVE TO VENT (and educate) OR I MIGHT EXPLODE.
Yesterday we started closing down our nursery, which means reducing our workspace now that the majority of our orphans are self-feeding. For us, that means we’re hand-feeding around 100 babies instead of 500. The clinic is still packed, but the nursery is an entire operation of its own that normally requires a full team all day long.
By moving cages up to the main clinic and leaving only our most delicate orphans in the nursery, we can operate that space with one person.
But there’s a reason I had to do it a month earlier than planned.
Our fawn room is now a quarantine room.
Fawns are notorious for licking each other’s mouths…and butts. They spread illness incredibly fast. The five sick fawns are isolated in the fawn room while the healthy ones have been moved outside to the bottle pen earlier than usual. Any new intakes now have to stay downstairs in the nursery playpens until they complete quarantine or recover from injuries, scours, or other illnesses before they can join the others.
From what Dan is hearing while handling the phone, most of the rehabbers who take deer are already full, and tick fawns have only just started arriving. If you know of a local rehabber who is still accepting fawns, please let us know.
Meanwhile…the main clinic just became a complete 💩 show.
More animals.
More staff.
Less room.
More chaos.
But that’s okay. We’ll make it work. We always do.
Because at Wild Heart, it’s whatever the animals need—24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
So what can YOU do to help?
STOP stealing healthy fawns from healthy mothers.
And if you truly find an orphan, DO NOT put it in a barn where livestock have been. Ever.
Fawns are extremely susceptible to Fusobacterium, a bacteria commonly found in barns. It is treatable if caught very early, but tiny fawns often cannot survive the treatment. Even worse, it spreads through a group before physical symptoms are obvious.
If I showed you pictures of advanced Fusobacterium infections, you would understand why I completely lose my mind when someone tells me they kept a fawn in a barn before bringing it here.
It is the stuff of nightmares.
We have already lost five fawns to it this season, including the one that introduced it into the group—a baby that looked perfectly healthy when it arrived.
And while we’re at it…
Please do NOT try to feed the fawn.
Do not give it milk from your refrigerator.
Do not give it canned goat’s milk.
Do not give it “multi-species” milk replacer.
And please don’t buy something just because the bag has a picture of a fawn on it.
Those products can create a toxic gut environment, chronic scours, bloody diarrhea, immune suppression, and bacterial overgrowth that leaves these babies with almost no resistance to diseases like Fusobacterium.
Three of the fawns we lost had already been fed inappropriate formulas before they arrived and were fighting an uphill battle from the start. Another was simply in terrible condition when it came in.
It’s June.
We’re exhausted.
We’ve already raised thousands of babies this year. We still have hundreds in care, and many more will arrive before the season ends.
The weather is hot and humid. Legitimate orphans are arriving in rough shape and need intensive, lifesaving care.
We need to spend less time caring for animals that never needed rescuing in the first place and more time caring for the ones whose lives truly depend on us.
I understand doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. I really do, and I’m usually pretty tolerant of honest mistakes.
Until June.
And especially with fawns.
Because every unnecessary delay and every well-intentioned mistake stacks the odds against them.
I’m good at what I do. I routinely save animals that arrive with only a shred of hope left, and I’m grateful to do this work.
But when human decisions create suffering that could have been avoided, it wears on all of us.
I had a migraine today.
I had one three days ago.
(I can only take so much... I am one human leading a team doing the seemingly impossible)
And instead of being in my clinic taking care of wildlife, I’m home venting to all of you with the hopes of creating change for the animals and us.
So here’s the bottom line:
If you find a wild animal, make absolutely sure it needs to be rescued before intervening.
And if you choose to rescue it, follow the law and follow the instructions of licensed wildlife rehabilitators. We’re not only trying to save and raise these animals—we’re often trying to undo the damage done before they ever reach our hands.
Can I get an AMEN?
Or at least an “UNCLE!” from the rehabbers in the back?
Love you guys who get it.
Please share this for someone who doesn’t.
(funds are for the fawns. At $1,000+ to raise each one, it's not just a time challenge)
