Post by Dutch on Jun 30, 2022 20:47:31 GMT -5
I copied this from the National Deer Association Facebook page.
On June 29, Mike Rupert of Athens, Georgia, stepped into his suburban backyard after a thunderstorm passed and noticed a whitetail doe. Then he noticed a black rat snake by a fence. The doe moved off as Mike walked over to take photos of the snake, and then he saw a second black rat snake – and this one was coiled around a whitetail fawn.
“I thought the fawn was dead, because it wasn’t moving,” said Mike. “But finally I saw its chest move as it breathed. So, I got a stick and tried to pry the snake off. It was wrapped so tight, I couldn’t get the stick between the snake and the deer.”
Mike said the snake had not completely encircled the fawn’s neck yet, but as you can see in Mike’s photo, it was coiled over its neck and around the body. As Mike tried to pry the snake off, the fawn jumped up, and then Mike saw the snake was also wrapped around the fawn’s legs. At this point, the fawn was able to get its legs free. Mike got the stick under the snake and separated the two, and the fawn ran off.
This morning, June 30, Mike saw the fawn back in his backyard, bedded in the same spot by a wood pile (second photo), which is probably where the black rat snakes hang out as well. The fawn looked healthy.
“It was a big snake, but there was no way it could have swallowed that fawn,” said Mike. “The fawn was too big.”
Plenty of predators eat whitetail fawns, including primarily coyotes, with black bears and bobcats also taking fawns. We can say this is the first time we’ve seen evidence of a native constrictor trying to kill a fawn. We say “native” because invasive Burmese pythons are killing plenty of deer in Florida. Just recently, a record-breaking 215-lb. python was killed that had eaten an adult whitetail. And there may be rare examples of large rattlesnakes swallowing especially small fawns. But in general, native snakes are not a significant threat to deer of any age.
Thanks to Mike Rupert and his brother, NDA member Chad Rupert, for sharing this story and photos with us!
#Fawns #WhitetailFawn #Snakes #DeerScience #DeerFacts #NationalDeerAssociation
On June 29, Mike Rupert of Athens, Georgia, stepped into his suburban backyard after a thunderstorm passed and noticed a whitetail doe. Then he noticed a black rat snake by a fence. The doe moved off as Mike walked over to take photos of the snake, and then he saw a second black rat snake – and this one was coiled around a whitetail fawn.
“I thought the fawn was dead, because it wasn’t moving,” said Mike. “But finally I saw its chest move as it breathed. So, I got a stick and tried to pry the snake off. It was wrapped so tight, I couldn’t get the stick between the snake and the deer.”
Mike said the snake had not completely encircled the fawn’s neck yet, but as you can see in Mike’s photo, it was coiled over its neck and around the body. As Mike tried to pry the snake off, the fawn jumped up, and then Mike saw the snake was also wrapped around the fawn’s legs. At this point, the fawn was able to get its legs free. Mike got the stick under the snake and separated the two, and the fawn ran off.
This morning, June 30, Mike saw the fawn back in his backyard, bedded in the same spot by a wood pile (second photo), which is probably where the black rat snakes hang out as well. The fawn looked healthy.
“It was a big snake, but there was no way it could have swallowed that fawn,” said Mike. “The fawn was too big.”
Plenty of predators eat whitetail fawns, including primarily coyotes, with black bears and bobcats also taking fawns. We can say this is the first time we’ve seen evidence of a native constrictor trying to kill a fawn. We say “native” because invasive Burmese pythons are killing plenty of deer in Florida. Just recently, a record-breaking 215-lb. python was killed that had eaten an adult whitetail. And there may be rare examples of large rattlesnakes swallowing especially small fawns. But in general, native snakes are not a significant threat to deer of any age.
Thanks to Mike Rupert and his brother, NDA member Chad Rupert, for sharing this story and photos with us!
#Fawns #WhitetailFawn #Snakes #DeerScience #DeerFacts #NationalDeerAssociation
