On my way home from work today, I ran across a small crippled doe meandering through my small suburban town, about 1/4 mile from my house. I pulled along side of it, and was able to not only get a picture or two, but to follow it around the neighborhood. As long as I stayed in the car, I was able to pull within 10 feet of it without startling it, even with the motor running. I was able to get 27 pictures in the course of about an hour.
I watched this pitiful thing limp over to a few trash cans and eat whatever it could find. It ate, among other things, old orange peels, a McDonald's burger wrapper out of an old happy meal, and even a disposeable diaper.
The doe had obviously been hit by a car and it's right rear leg had been broken badly. You could see where the bone was protruding though the skin, it may be visible in some of these pictures. Its coat was in VERY bad shape, but I don't know if this is due to normal shedding or something else like mange or CWD.
There were people out for an evening walk who told me the doe had been hanging around our neighborhood for months, and actually looked a lot better today than she had. They said she was getting around better and her coat looked better (as if it could look any worse). After eating out of the trash cans, it bedded down right in a neighbor's back yard right against his back deck (after going through his trash).
Take a look and tell me what you guys think.
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