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Fawn rescued from drowning

Animal swam in Vallecito Lake
Emergency medics boarded a boat belonging to the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, and deputies and medics “rescued this fawn found floating in the lake and turned it over to Medic 62 to treat it for hypothermia before handing it off to the Humane Society,” the Upper Pine River Fire Protection’s Facebook page said.

Law enforcement saved a young fawn that almost drowned after wandering into Vallecito Lake on Friday night.

Upper Pine River Protection District Chief Bruce Evans said medics from his agency were patrolling Vallecito Lake aboard a La Plata County Sheriff’s Office boat as a precautionary measure during the fireworks show, which brings many revelers into the water.

“Somehow, this little baby fawn was out there deep in the lake, and it looked like he was trying to swim. So the boat followed him, and so did a person on a paddleboard.

But the fawn couldn’t make it to shore, and when he got to the middle of the lake, “he got so fatigued, it looked like he was going to go under. So, the Sheriff’s Office got him out, and our people looked after it,” he said.

Upper Pine medics treated the fawn for hypothermia.

“We put the fawn in the truck to warm him up, then someone from the humane society picked him up,” Evans said.

La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith apparently took photos of the fawn recovering from its ill-fated venture into water once the animal was ashore.

“Obviously, the fawn got away from its mother. It’s probably going to have to be nursed or taken care of until it can do its own thing,” he said.

Evans said the fawn is so little, it must have been born near the Fourth of July.

“It’s just an adorable little animal, but it can’t be older than a few weeks,” he said.

cmcallister@ durangoherald.com



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