Mama Deer Has A Foster Child

We have seen kindness shown in the animal world before.  We have seen mice and elephants as friends.  We have seen an orangutan taking care of tiger cubs, a mother cat nursing a puppy and a dog taking care of a young squirrel.  This isn't quite that dramatic, but it was fun to see.

A few days ago I noticed a young deer in our yard.  He was all alone and couldn't put weight on his front foot.  He also had a sore on his other leg.  He walked on his tippy toe, but managed to run with less of a problem. He ate a little corn and went off into the woods.

You can see the bulge just above the hoof on his left leg. 

A short time later I saw a coyote sniffing the deer trail.  He was twenty feet from our dining room window.

I got the camera and he looked right up at me.

Then took off on the same path as the deer.

 
I was worried about the little deer because he couldn't run as fast as he normally could.  A short time later a neighbor posted that she saw some deer scared by a coyote.  I can only assume it was the same one I saw.  The past few days we have not been home at feeding time.  Like clockwork the deer come in for a corn snack between 4:00 and 5:00pm.  It is usually the same mama and her twins.

The family of three.

They have certainly grown up during the last nine months.

They were newborn fawns last June, 2015

I was more than tickled when I looked out the window tonight.  We put the corn out and at 4:07pm the first two deer came across the frozen marsh and past our window.

The mother deer usually gives the twins some lead time but stands in the thicket for a while waiting.  I think she wants to give them some independence.  Soon she makes her way to join them.  Today, coming behind her was our injured deer.  The coyote hadn't gotten to her.  She was putting more weight on the foot but it is still very swollen.

Soon they were all eating happily together.  Mama deer is usually very protective and chases off all intruders while they are eating.  Today she let the injured deer eat with them at the corn table.

The injured deer is in front with the dark ears.  You can see the sore on her back right leg.

They ate the corn very quickly.  It doesn't take long for four deer to eat a couple small scoops of corn, but if everyone in the neighborhood does the same, these deer are very well fed.

"Please  Sir, Could I have Some more"

This one was still hungry and came right up to the window.  I told him he had to wait until tomorrow, so he walked away.  Stay warm little family.  I will see you tomorrow.

NEW INFORMATION:
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2016/02/feeding-deer-properly-or-not-at-all.html