What makes a person help another? Why does someone devote their life to giving hope to someone else? Pat Ferguson, who has been caring for animals in need ever since she can remember, says, “It’s in your blood... so you just do it.”

Ferguson has nursed hundreds of deer back to health; several that will never be able to be released back into the wild call her land home. She says that, for many years, she rescued cats, dogs, horses and other animals. In 1996 she received her first fawn.

Since then, Ferguson has cared for many injured or abandoned deer in addition to the domestic deer she kept on her property. For some time she was one of the only deer rehabbers in the state. But in 2005, due to improper blood handling by a NY taxidermist, chronic wasting disease hit the deer population in New York state. “It’s a horrible disease,” Ferguson says. Fifteen percent of deer exposed to CWD contract the disease. “They basically go crazy and starve to death,” she added.

With the introduction of CWD came new regulations. According to a new NYS law, domestic deer owners and taxidermists cannot rehab or capture wild deer. Rather than treating the new regulations as a setback, Ferguson used the situation as an opportunity to share her love of animals with others. That same year, she started a team of NYS-licensed volunteers to “care for injured and orphaned wildlife ... [specializing] in the care of whitetail deer,” called Field of Dreams Whitetail Deer Rehabilitation. Although the new law keeps her from personally rescuing the wild deer, she possesses licenses that allow her to teach others how to do the rehabbing. Every winter Ferguson holds five all-day classes; topics range from how to raise fawns to coverage of the diseases deer can contract. Although she says she prefers to limit the class sizes to 15, she is encouraged by how many people sign up. “This year I had to turn away about as many as will actually be in the class,” she said. “Every year we’re seeing more and more rehabbers - and that’s very cool.”

This spring marked New York state’s fifth year without a new CWD case and Ferguson is hoping the government will reverse some of the deer rehab laws. “We’re the first state that has stayed clean for five years,” she said. “The federal government has never given a state back their ’clean’ status after CWD so this is new and they’re checking with Albany to see what they can do.” If New York state is declared CWD-free, Ferguson may be able to rehab deer once again.

Ferguson runs a plumbing and heating company out of her home. Since both of her secretaries are rehabbers, her location serves a dual purpose: individuals, veterinarians and local SPCAs use her as a sort of deer dispatch center. “They call me if they have an injured or abandoned deer,” she said. “Then I will call the closest rehabber to that location and have them go pick up the animal.”

Her advice to individuals who find an injured or abandoned fawn or deer in their yard is to call for help instead of taking matters into their own hands. “Mother deer love to give birth in an open place so they can watch for predators,” she said. “Somewhere like your backyard.” She says most pregnant does give birth to twins and that the entire birthing process usually takes no more than 15 minutes. Then the female deer has her babies lie down separately in the grass while she hides in the bushes watching them. “For the first month or so the babies don’t even know each other exists,” said Ferguson. “That way if a predator comes maybe it gets one of them but not both.” When humans find sleeping fawns in their yards, they may think the babies have been abandoned. But the mother is always within eyesight and, as Ferguson puts it, “is just wishing you would leave her baby alone.” For the first three days of its life, a fawn will go limp, or ’play dead’ when a human picks it up.

But Ferguson says that day four is the magic day. “The fawn will let you get close but it will be watching you,” she says. “As soon as you reach for it it will scream and run to its mom. You won’t be able to see her but she will be right there.”

Ferguson says that it is simply an old wives’ fable that mother deer won’t take their fawns back once humans have touched them. “But that doesn’t mean that people should be touching the fawns,” she said.

If a human calls Ferguson for help within four or five days of bringing a fawn into their home, the baby can most likely be reunited with its mother. Ferguson says she asks the homeowner to show her where they found the baby. “The moms will keep on looking for their fawns for at least three weeks,” she says. “I know that mom will be right there even though we can’t see her.” She brings the fawn back to the spot where it was hidden and holds it into the air. “It’s such a cool thing to see,” she says. “The fawn will cry for its mother and she will actually come out of her hiding place. That’s the only time a deer will come close to a human. Deer are incredible mothers.” Unfortunately, after the fawn has been kept inside a human’s home for so long, it will lose its scent and the mother will no longer recognize it. “The fawn that’s in trouble is the one that’s walking around crying and its mother isn’t coming,” says Ferguson. “That’s the one that needs help, not the one sleeping in your yard.”

Ferguson holds a license to possess non-releasable deer as well as her USDA license. She says she is hoping that a deer license will eventually will be put into play so that rehabbers will have more extensive education on how to care for deer. “Right now the rehabber license covers all wild animals,” she says. “I’d like to see deer rehabbers get more specific education.”

Those who wish to help Field of Dreams Whitetail Deer Rehabilitation are welcome to donate supplies like old playpens, blankets, towels, baby bottles, fruits and vegetables, building supplies and more. For more information call Ferguson at 592-3067.

---

Tell Us what You Think: