Newborn wildlife is irresistible, and many well-meaning people are tempted to "help" when the best thing they can do is leave the young alone. Born in May and June, many young wild animals may appear abandoned and helpless, or seem to be lost. But young wildlife are rarely helpless or abandoned, more often the mother is only gone temporarily or is intentionally staying a short distance away to avoid attracting attention to her young. What should you do if you discover an apparently abandoned wild animal? Leave it alone. Just touching or picking them up may cause the mother to reject them because of the human scent. Birds, however, cannot smell well, and fledglings may be carefully returned to their nest. FWP should be notified of young wildlife that have been orphaned because the mother was killed. Also, orphaned wildlife can only be handled by FWP and there is nothing in the law to delegate this authority to anyone else. In some cases, the lure of having an unusual pet or the dream of taming a wild creature may be why a baby animal is taken from the wild. This is a bad choice for the human and the baby animal. It is illegal to possess or remove from the wild any game animal, game bird, songbird, furbearer or bird of prey, and fines may be levied for such violations. State law also prohibits people from having wild animals that may have rabies such as fox, raccoons, skunks and bats. Springtime brings new life and new hope. The best hope for this year’s wild young is that they live their full lives in the wild.
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