On a spring day in 2018, I faced my fear of mountain lions and rescued a fawn.

My Mountain Lion Fears

Yes. I have read the Reader’s Digest mountain lion stories and have a healthy fear of these big cats. When I lived in Fallbrook California, I had a pet opossum. I would take Feisty, as he was called, for walks outside at night. A neighbor told me that a mountain lion was seen in the neighborhood. That made me nervous for all future walks.

After we moved to French Gulch, another neighbor reported that a woman had gone for a walk with her dog early in the morning. It attacked and killed them both. I think that he was trying to scare me and he was doing a good job. My husband had set up a composting toilet about forty feet down our driveway. I hated using it in the night before going to bed. Every sound of the rats and mice in the brush had to be a mountain lion stalking me. Praying for God’s protection and learning to trust Him with my safety was the only way that I was able to face my fears.

Mountain Lion Sightings

My first Mountain Lion sighting occurred when My daughter and I enjoyed a beautiful day sitting by the creek on our lounge chairs. I was returning from the restroom and she pointed to a baby mountain lion walking by. My first thought was, “Where is the mother?” I started looking into the nearby trees. Fortunately, we never did see her.

On another day, in the late afternoon, I walked down my driveway to check my distribution box. A mountain lion ran across the driveway headed for the road just thirty feet away from me. I cried out, “Wait! Come back! I didn’t get your picture. Then, after thinking about that request, I changed my mind and said, “On second thought, you can just keep on going.”

A Fawn Cries For Help

On a spring day in 2018, I had just started to wash my truck, when I heard a loud wailing. “Waaaah!!! Waaaah!!! Waaaah!!!…” It took me a second to recognize that it was the cry of a baby deer in distress. I immediately took off running down my driveway towards the sound. My crazy mothering instincts kicked in, and I just had to rescue this poor fawn. As I ran, I was yelling, “Leave it alone!” in an attempt to scare the predator away .It didn’t work.

My immediate thought was about how I hadn’t stretched out before running. I was going to get sore. The fawn screamed as it came down the mountainside and ran across my driveway from right to left with the predator in hot pursuit. It was all one big blur.

The predator was larger than a bobcat and smaller than an adult mountain lion. Then it occurred to me that I would be even more sore, if I didn’t get a weapon. I saw some metal poles from an awning knocked over by the wind. I grabbed one and kept running.

The wailing stopped as abruptly as it had begun. My heart sank. Was I too late?

Face-to-Face with a Young Mountain Lion

Running towards the creek, I came to the place where there was a small pond. I looked left towards the pond and then I turned to the right.

There in the brush was a young mountain lion crouched over its prey. The fawn was lying on its side. The young predator had a surprised look on his face. At this point, I wasn’t a bit afraid. I had been in mortal combat (That is what it seemed like.)  with a large Suffolk ram we used to own, and a metal pole had been a good defense weapon.

A Mean Face

I held up my pole and made the meanest face that I could. Then I firmly yelled, “Git!!!” The expression in the mountain lion’s eyes turned to one of fear. It took off running so fast that I started to doubt that it had been afraid of me. I turned to look behind me to see if my guardian angel was visible, but I saw nothing. Only in Heaven will I ever know for sure. I am truly thankful for his protection.

Agonal Breathing

Turning my attention to the fawn, I noticed no bloody injuries. Then I noticed that it was doing agonal breathing. This is where the animal is gasping for breath as it is dying. Oh no! I just deprived a poor young mountain lion of its dinner and the fawn would die anyway.

Come Back Mountain Lion!

Now, with great remorse, I went a short distance in the direction that the mountain lion had fled. I yelled, “Come back mountain lion! I’m sorry! The fawn is going to die anyway! You can have your dinner!” It was an attempt in futility. After seeing my scary face, would you have wanted to return? That’s what I thought.

Praying for God’s Mercy

Returning to the fawn, I knelt beside it and asked our great Creator God for His mercy to spare the life of this baby deer. It wasn’t long and the little deer began to breathe normally. In God’s great mercy, powerful hormones surge through animals that are about to be eaten alive. This keeps them from feeling the pain. The fawn was in shock and it was starting to wear off.

Carrying the Rescued Fawn to Safety

I am allergic to poison oak and did not doubt that this fawn had been through plenty of it on the mountainside. Carefully, I picked it up and carried it through the house and into the backyard. I laid it gently on the oak-leaf-covered ground. Bobby, one of my cats, came over to check out the fawn up close. The fawn opened its eyes but was unable to move.

Awake and Unable to Stand

After a while, the fawn was fully awake and tried to stand up. For some unknown reason, the front legs seemed paralyzed and the baby deer couldn’t stand. I feared the fawn would break its neck because each time it tried to stand, it fell forward onto its head. So, I took it into the house and put it on an elevated dog bed under a table against the wall. I put a pet fence around it and tried to support it with a few objects. She tried to get up and with the help of her powerful back legs, she crashed through it.

Struggles with the Fawn

How was I going to keep this fawn from killing itself? I hoped I could hobble it, so I got some gauze and tied its rear legs together. Then I tied the front legs together. While it was hobbled, I found two scratches on the left flank left by the mountain lion. I cleaned the wounds with peroxide and put a pine pitch salve in them. The fawn kept kicking even while hobbled, so I put it in a big box hoping to confine it and prevent it from hurting itself. It got the gauze off easily.

It wouldn’t settle down and kept on kicking. I was getting exhausted from all my struggles with this determined fawn. The thought occurred to me that I wished I had never rescued it. I needed to get to bed because I had to work the next day. How was I supposed to sleep with this fawn kicking in the box all night? I put the box in my motorhome with only a small weight on top. If it got out, at least it was confined and would be safe. It was so good to have peace so I could get to sleep.

Morning Progress

In the morning, I found the deer under the motorhome table. It was struggling to look out of the window, but it seemed to be getting stronger. I got a harness that I had bought for my big cat Columbus. It was a perfect fit for the fawn. I took the fawn to the backyard and helped it stand by holding the handle on the harness. It could even walk a bit with my support. But, on its own, it was like a newborn fawn on wobbly front legs.

Call to Wildlife Rescue

The very name of “Wildlife Rescue” makes you think that this organization will help take care of wildlife that people rescue. I already found that the fox I had rescued was worthy of death because his back was broken. Click this link to read that story. Adventures With Grey Foxes

When the size of my fawn was described, I was told that it was too old, and if they took it they would euthanize it because at that age it would probably refuse to eat and would die anyway. The woman told me to let it go. She said its mom would find it and nurse it. I told her that I couldn’t let it go until it could walk. 

While the fawn was learning to stand, she would cry for her mother. You can hear her in the video at the end of this post. There will be a  reenactment of the whole story and  videos of the fawn. If I came too close to her, she would turn and crash into the fence. After a few times of this, I had her lie down to rest.

After some time of practicing to walk, the fawn got so that it could run. I have concluded that all the neurological problems that the fawn had with controlling its neck and front legs were due to the hormones that put it into shock. They took a long time to wear off. Now that the fawn could run, I knew it would be harder to catch it. It was time to let it go.

There was no sign of its mother. I carried the fawn back down the driveway to where it had crossed the road. We crossed the road and I released it right by a deer trail. I hope it was able to find its mother. It made its way up the mountainside and seemed to know where it was going. I had no time to follow it. It was time for me to go to work.

Watch the Video

Did I tell you that this event occurred in the spring of 2018? It has been six years. I shared individual videos on Facebook but wanted to combine the videos. I also wanted to do a reenactment. One person suggested that I have the mountain lion scene animated. I decided that would be too much trouble and knew I would put this project off even longer.  So, I have finally made the video. All the pictures in this post were removed and edited from the videos. If you appreciate all the work it took to make this blog post and video, please share them with your friends. Enjoy the video!

Conclusion

From this experience, I learned:

1. That rescuing a fawn from a mountain lion is dangerous.

2. Some kind of weapon is needed.

3. You cannot be afraid because the mountain lion will know it.

4. Shout and make a mean face with anger in your eyes as the mountain lion will read your eyes.

5. The mountain lion is deprived of its dinner and will have to kill something else.

6. Shock can cripple a fawn and last for hours.

7. Wildlife Rescue will offer little help.

8. The released fawn may never find its mother. 

9. Even though I regretted saving the fawn, it was a rewarding experience to be remembered.