Police Hope To Reunite Fawn Found In Palos Park With Mother

PALOS PARK, IL -- Like a chapter out of The Yearling, police officers and firefighters in Palos Park rescued a fawn Wednesday afternoon in a resident’s backyard. The fawn had reportedly been in the resident's yard for several days and became separated from its mother. The first responders set the wheels in motion for a mother-child reunion.

An older woman and wildlife lover who lives on a heavily forested property in Palos Park called police to report that a fawn had been residing in her backyard for close to a week.

“She was curious what to do with it,” Palos Park Officer John Sawyer said. “We think the mother jumped over the fence and had her baby, and wasn’t able to go back to get it.”

Neighbors reported seeing a doe walking up and down the sidewalk earlier in the week looking for her fawn. Sawyer tried to retrieve the fawn on Tuesday, but it kept running back and forth. The woman called police Wednesday to tell them the fawn was still stuck in her backyard. The police officer feared that if the fawn stayed any longer without its mama, it wouldn’t survive.

“I couldn’t do it by myself,” Sawher said. “Between Palos Park police and firefighters from the Palos Fire Protection District, we were able to corral the fawn in the backyard. It was a team effort.”

The fawn was docile when finally cornered and went willingly with Sawyer and PFPD firefighter Eric Queen. Unfortunately, once they had the fawn in custody, there weren’t any animal shelters with the facilities to care for the tyke. A neighbor, who lives in the house behind where the fawn was found, told police a herd of deer regularly visit his yard at dusk. The wayward fawn was placed in the neighbor’s yard for a possible mother-child reunion in the evening.

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Sawyer said he and fellow police officers and firefighters didn’t bother to check to see if the fawn was male or female. Nor did they name it.

“The fawn had white spots,” Sawyer said. “It was very innocent.”

The birthing season for deer begins in late May through the end of June, hitting its peak in early June. It’s not uncommon for does to leave their offspring for several hours at a time and not return until well after dark. About 99 percent of “fawn calls” found in people’s yards or garages do not involve orphaned or abandoned babies, according to Wildlife In Crisis. Unless a dead doe is found in the area where the fawn was left alone, it’s mother is probably out somewhere foraging for food. The best thing to do is to just let the fawn be and keep your dog and kids away from it.

A dead deer was found in the Beverly-Morgan Park area earlier this week, but Sawyer doesn’t believe it’s connected to the Palos Park fawn.