'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
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Air traveller complaints to Canadian Transportation Agency hit new high
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid says he has Bell's palsy
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
U.S. flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.