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Bay Area Residents Mistakenly Trying To Rescue Young Fawns

MARIN COUNTY (CBS SF) -- Deer are giving birth this time of year and people all over the Bay Area are finding young fawns in places they have never seen before.

Many seem abandoned, leading some residents to mistakenly attempting to rescue them. Melanie Piazza, the Director of Wildcare Animal Rescue in Marin County, says that is a bad idea.

"Most people don't know that mom leaves them for about 12 hours at a time," explained Piazza. "She'll leave them in the morning after feeding and come back at night. So most people who find them sitting in the grass think they have been orphaned, when they are actually not."

The Marin Humane Society is also getting a lot of calls for abandoned fawns. CEO Nancy McKenney told KPIX this year is very different than past years.

"It's about double what we received last year at this time, which make us wonder why. But there might be more fawns out there or more concerned people calling us more often, right?' said McKenney.

Experts say in most cases, the best way to help a fawn is not to help. Residents can rest assured that the mother deer is usually not far away.

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