SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – A pronghorn fawn, just weeks old, was found underweight and dehydrated on private land in central New Mexico… Now, the fawn has found a new home at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
The landowner discovered the fawn wandering around the property a few weeks ago, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Wildlife experts say this was unusual because typically, pronghorn fawns are known as “tuckers” – they tuck away and wait for their mom to return. The animal experts in New Mexico later learned this fawn’s mom had been hit by a car.
The fawn had been wandering for so long that he got cactus in his face, became dehydrated and wasn’t doing well.
The landowner reported the fawn to multiple institutions. The fawn was then taken to a facility in New Mexico – that’s where conservationists from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
“That facility just so happened to have someone working there who used to work at the Safari Park, and knew that I worked with pronghorns,” said Melody Tayles, the Wildlife Care Manager for the alliance.
Since pronghorns imprint on humans so quickly, the two decided the fawn would not be released to the wild and instead would find a home at the Safari Park in Escondido.
Tayles and two colleagues spent a few days making the more than 26-hour round trip to New Mexico, with bottles ready to feed the fawn.
The alliance says it is one of the few places equipped to care for a species as unique as the pronghorn.
SDZWA says the fawn is now healthy and settling into life in his new home.
