<Dave Cook, Sierra Wildlife Rescue>
This is a request to those of you who have wrought iron fencing that you consider making adjustments to it so that it’s less harmful to deer.
I get plenty of calls every year about deer (usually fawns or yearlings) that have gotten stuck trying to squeeze through such fencing when they’re too young/small to jump over the top. Their shoulders are narrower than their hips and they get stuck halfway through. Since they don’t understand reverse, they keep plunging forward trying to get through and can cause themselves tremendous, sometimes fatal, injuries.
I got the sixth call in a week & a half last night, and it was an adult doe (somewhat unusual age for such a situation), and she died before I could free her. I was able to successfully free three of those six deer but three of them died, either onsite or later.
Ways to prevent a deer from even trying to squeeze through include installing hardware cloth or snake proofing material up a couple of feet from ground level. Another approach is to have additional bars installed in between the original bars so that the gap is then too narrow for deer to even try getting through.
I hope all of you with wrought iron fencing will consider making such adjustments and you can feel free to call me to discuss other solutions. And of course call me right away if one does get stuck at your place!
Thanks...
Dave Cook
Sierra Wildlife Rescue
530-363-4848
Yesterday at 1:09 PM
