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Bambi - The Three-Legged Fawn (Part 3)

© Clayton Howe

Well, Bambi settled in very quickly to her new home and routine. She ate her food, drank the fresh water provided to her daily and what went in... came out the other end just fine. All systems were "go" and Bambi thrived under our watchful eyes. As time went on, she grew bigger and stronger. If you didn't know she was missing a leg, you would never have guessed it.

Human interaction with Bambi was kept to a minimum, to avoid her becoming too trusting of us. Food, water and fresh browse was given to her daily but, as much as we would have liked, we did not make a "pet" out of her. The future goal was to release her back into the wild, in hopes that she would be able to survive using only three legs. Other deer in the wild have been sighted getting around successfully with three legs, so the possibility of Bambi attaining this goal was not unreasonable.

Bambi stayed with us in the barn throughout her first winter and when spring arrived, along with good natural food becoming more abundant every day, the decision was made to release her. We chose a nice warm, sunny day for her return to the wild. The front doors to the barn were closed; the back door opened wide and her stall door swung silently open to make way for her departure. We stood still, wondering how Bambi would react to her new found freedom.

Bambi took a few cautious steps towards the opening, hesitating; while she raised her nose up to sniff the air. Her ears were twitching, listening for unaccustomed noises. She gracefully stepped out into the wide corridor of the barn and stared out the back door. She leapt out through the open doorway, landing on a soft cushion of bright green grass. She looked back at us momentarily before bounding out further away from the barn.

Bambi raced out into the pasture, stopping just long enough to check out the large creatures she found there. The horses and cow gazed nonchalantly back at her before returning to their grazing. With giant leaps and bounds, using her remaining three legs, Bambi crossed the pasture, reaching the woods located beyond the field. One last jump took her flying over the pasture fence and out into the wild, where she belonged.

We thought we saw her a few times over the course of the following few weeks, but she never came back close enough for us to be sure. The following year a man, who lived about 8 miles away, told us he saw a three legged deer in his back field with twin fawns. We like to think it must have been Bambi!