CONSERVATION OFFICER Brian Gray from DNR department checks newborn fawn, with Lori and Pam Deopere of Lake Crystal. The fawn was born Tuesday morning shortly after its mother was struck and killed by a car on Highway 14 east of New Ulm (Photo by Lee Groebner)

Just before a doe was struck and killed by a motorist early Tuesday on Highway 14, it gave birth to a fawn which is alive and well. The accident happened at 8 a.m. and the driver was David Roy of New Ulm. He struck the doe on Highway 14, about three miles east of New Ulm, according to New Ulm police.

According to police, the deer had given birth shortly after Roy went back to check on its condition after hitting it on the highway. Department of Natural Resources (DNR)officials here said the doe was relaxed enough to give birth.

Damage to the car was estimated at $200. The fawn was taken by DNR officer Brian Gray of Mankato from the scene in good shape. He said it will be bottle-fed and raised at the Madelia research center for farm game wildlife.

Maynard Nelson, head of the DNR-regional office here, said it was unique to have the birth “because of being born that way and so late in the season.” He said that fawns are usually born in May or June in the state, but the expectant mother wasn’t probably bred until January.

The mother was a fawn itself last year and we suspect that it matured late,” said Nelson. This type of birth doesn’t happen too often, and very seldom do you get the fawn alive.”

THE FAWN, according to DNR spokesmen, will be raised and housed at the Madelia research farm and later transported to the Grand Rapids forest game research quarters where deer are penned and tests conducted on them. The fawn, a male, weighed 11 pounds, six ounces and the mother was about a year old.

“It was really hungry,” said Dr. Alfred Berner at Madelia,where he is group leader of the farm and wildlife division. Well’ keep it here for a couple of days before sending it up north. He said it drank 2-3 ounces of milk.

Grand Rapids is a deer-holding area. Physiological studies on herds of deer are done there. New Ulm has given them a bouncy test animal, which the youngsters will miss petting here.

New Ulm Daily Journal

July 31, 1974