Humble Beginnings

Senseless

Over the last several weeks, one set of our neighbors (who own about 100 acres) had a new 7-strand barbed wire fence put in.  Their old fence must have been 30 years old and was about 3' feet in some places.  It really needed replacing.  However, in that 30 years deer have used certain sections of the fence to jump over when crossing between our property and theirs.

I'd say that this section of the fence has only been completed about a week, if that.  It now stands about 5' tall and there's absolutely no give in it.  And, the men that put up the new fence did not take down the old fence, so there's between 3" and 12" of space between the old and new fences (it varies depending on the fences).

Anyway, we're heading out this morning and some poor doe (I'd say she was about a year old) had attempted to jump the new fence and in the process, her back right foot got stuck between the old fence and the new fence, trapping her feet between the two.  Her stomach was cut straight up the middle pretty badly (I believe the word is eviscerated) and both rear legs from the "knee"  joint down to above the hooves were skinned. It looked like she was wearing slouchy socks.  She was scared and hurt and could not get free of the fences (even with all the effort she was giving).

We called my hubby's parents (who live on the same property) to see if they could come over and help.  Needless to say, the poor doe was too far gone to help her, so they ended up putting her down.  I know she's much better off, but we all kept thinking that the fence was too high when it was being erected.  It's at that in-between stage of being easy to jump and being too high.  I think we're going to see more of this until the deer get used to the higher fence.

Little Lauren just cried like her heart had been wrenched from her.  She felt so sorry for that little doe but there really was nothing that could be done to help her.  She was pretty badly wounded and suffering terribly.  There's no telling how long she'd been on the fence like that - a few hours, all night, who knows?

I hate it when things like this happen.  I know it does and I know there really wasn't anything else we could do, but still...

Anyway, I guess that's just another day of life in the country.

Untitled Comment

{ 08:35 , Saturday, March 1, 2008 } { Posted by OklahomaSweetPea06 }

My heart aches for that tragedy, I am glad you guys were able to do what you could by going ahead and putting the doe down. I am sorry to hear how much this broke your DD heart.