Newborn Animal Warning

It is the annual array of newborn wildlife brought into the Wyoming Game and Fish Department by well-meaning people and the Game and Fish wants people to leave these newborns alone and walk away for the animals’ sake. Green River Information and Education Specialist Lucy Wold says this is a reoccurring problem, but still believes adults and children can make an effort to walk away and leave the animals alone.
“People start bringing in young cottontail rabbits, ground squirrels, and songbirds in May,"
Wold says. "It doesn't matter how many press releases or radio public service announcements we send to local media about leaving young wildlife alone, people just can’t resist the temptation to do what they believe is helping the animal. In reality, in most cases, they are causing that animal to die.” People finding young animals often assume these newborns have been abandoned, but this is almost never the case. The mother knows where her young are, and will almost certainly return. Handling by a human leaves a scent on the fawn and may make them more easily found by predators. Humans are urged to not even walk up to fawns, because coyotes have been documented to follow human scent trails.”In the rare instance when a fawn or other newborn is found and the mother is known to be dead, contact the nearest game warden, biologist, or regional office. Do not attempt to capture these animals yourself.”