Despite Rescue Attempt, Baby Deer Dies From Injuries

Despite attempts to save its life, an abandoned baby deer found dying in the parking lot of a Germantown apartment complex succumbed to its injuries Wednesday.

Montgomery County Police officers from Germantown’s 5th district responded to a report of an injured deer at Oak Mill apartment complex, 20010 Frederick Road, at around 12:30 p.m.

Police said officers found a baby deer in distress and were told by a bystander that the deer had been there two days.

"It had been laying out behind a rental office, and the lady said it had been laying out there for two days," Officer Dawn Wenner said.

"It had been moving around, but had seemed as though the mother was not going to come back for it. So they had actually covered it with a blanket and gave it some water. I just came over, scooped it up and held it my arms," she said. She said she thought it weighed no more than 5-10 pounds.

Wenner wrapped the deer in a blanket and made arrangements for the deer to be transported to the Second Chance Wildlife Center in Gaithersburg. Second Chance performs emergency treatment on native wild animals and releases them back into the wild.

"Yeah, you can definitely say I'm probably the person on the shift that has the soft spot for the animals, whether they wild or domesticated," Wenner said.

Clinic supervisor Kathleen Handley said the baby deer, a 1-and-a-half-week buck, arrived at Second Chance in shock, with a portion of its body covered in maggots and flies.

“He was dying,” Handley told Patch. “His heart rate was pretty low.”

Handley said the deer probably had been abandoned by his mother. He was given steroids, fluids and some medication for the maggots, but it wasn’t enough.

Handley said the baby deer died two hours after he had been brought in.

“We did everything we could,” Handley said.