'Lot of stars had to align': Conservation officer delivers fawn with emergency C-section on Vancouver Island
When Sgt. Stuart Bates responded to a call about a deer hit by a car, the B.C. conservation officer never expected it would become a once in a career experience.
“After I put the deer out of its misery, I quickly did a check and found it was pregnant,” Stuart says.
The dying mother was in a wooded area off the road, where Stuart attempted to do what he’d never done before—save the unborn baby.
“I very quickly did a C-section,” Stuart says. “I was able to find a fawn and pull it out.”
The baby wasn’t breathing. After a call to a wildlife vet for advice, Stuart helped the deer slowly come to life.
“We didn’t give the fawn much chance of survival,” Stuart says. “The trauma of being part of a vehicle accident wouldn’t have helped it.”
But Stuart refused to give up on the fawn. He rushed the baby over to a family friend who was raising baby goats.
“He showed up in my driveway with a box [containing the fawn] in his arms,” Jocelyn Lord recalls with a smile. “[Stuart] had a really sheepish, hopeful look on his face.”
Although the deer’s chances of surviving the first 24 hours were slim, Jocelyn started tube feeding it the next best thing to its mother’s milk, goat milk.
“By day two she wanted to take the bottle,” Jocelyn says as the fawn eagerly empties the bottle.
Did you see Jocelyn said “she?” It turns out the baby’s a girl. Jocelyn’s children named her Hazel.
“She’ll romp around the living room with the kids,” Jocelyn says, before showing a video of the fawn and one of her kids chasing each other around the coffee table. “She’ll lick our faces. She follows us from room to room.”
After a week of round the clock care, Hazel is thriving. And Stuart—who’s never heard of a story like this in 16 years of conservation—can hardly believe it.
“A lot of stars had to align for this one,” Stuart says, listing how the caller had to find the injured mother, the mother had to be alive, the pregnancy had to be full-term, and Stuart had to take the chance to do the C-section.
“So it’s extremely rare this would happen.”
And now—thanks to Stuart and Jocelyn—it’s extremely likely that Hazel will move on to a deer rehabilitation centre, before embarking on a life in the wild this fall.
“It will probably never happen again in my career,” Stuart smiles. “But it happened once and that was a good day!”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Made-in-Newfoundland vodka claims top prize at worldwide competition
A Newfoundland-made vodka has been named one of the world’s best by judges at this year’s World Vodka Awards.