The Girls
by Tracy A. Bye
May 2004

I am a mother of two boys. All of our pets are boys except one of our kitties. So being female in the Bye family is a rarity. The ratio of boys to girls changed in early summer at the Bye household.

During early June 2003 I got two calls within a day of each other. One was for a deer fawn and one was for an antelope fawn. Both came to Born Free because of human intervention. Both were less than a day old and as cute as can be.

Angelina, the deer fawn, was picked up by a woman on horseback who found her along a path. When she called me from her cell phone and told me there were no signs of injury, I told her to take her back to where she found her because her mother was nearby. Many people don't realize that deer moms will leave their babies for up to 3 hours at a time. They are communicating with them during this time, but to a human's eyes the mom may appear to be nowhere in sight.

Later that night, the woman called me back to inform me she had not taken my advice. She had brought little Angelina back to her house, to her son's baseball game and had her in her living room with her kids and dog. "She seems to be fine except I think she's hungry," is what this woman told me. Little did she know that anytime a wild animal "seems fine" inside a house with people and pets around - that means they are in severe shock!

In the first few days Angelina had to fight hard to survive after all that she was put through. I always think of the moms of these fawns, who are desperately searching for their babies but come to find they have been taken away from them by unknowing humans. How their hearts must break.
Then came Cantelope a precious little antelope fawn who was found by some ranch kids. She was a twin that was left when the ranch kids came upon her mom and her sibling. The rancher and his kids did the exact right thing and tried to reunite Cantelope with her mom and twin, but it didn't happen successfully.

Cantelope was a light in Angelina's world those first days and continues to be to this day. They are inseparable. They are both growing well and are very healthy. I call them "my girlies!"

One morning in mid November I went out to feed, when to my surprise there was another deer fawn hanging out by "the girlies" pen. The fawn was almost as big as Angelina and was definitely wild. This perplexed me as all the deer had migrated already. Girly ,as I fondly call her ,has stayed with us ever since. My thinking is that her mom was killed during hunting season and she was smart enough to find Angelina and Cantelope. They must have told her that this was an okay place to be. Maybe they told her I needed some extra girls around. Needless to say, 'Girl Power' at the Bye household has taken on a new force!

Each day I look at their big, kind eyes and darling faces and realize how very lucky I am to be in their presence. Their tenderness towards me and their unconditional compassion make lots of my hardest days better. Animals are always part of those moments when I feel my greatest joy.

In April or May the girlies will be released into the wild together. To live free, as they were born that way.
My usual stories are of wild animals who have been to be rehabbed and have made a difference in my life.