Fawn saved from storm drain

Quick action by city workers saved a newly-born fawn that fell in a rain gutter Monday morning.

Jackie Finch was traveling down Nolan Street with her granddaughter, Aaliyah Byrd, when a doe and her two fawns caught their attention. Finch pulled the car over to allow her granddaughter to capture the small family on video. This beautiful scene of nature took a shocking turn very quickly when the fawns both struggled over a storm drain in the sidewalk, with one falling inside.

The doe did not see her baby fall and she pressed onward with the other baby following. Meanwhile, Finch frantically called for help, contacting Green River Animal Control. Officer Kim Wilkins' heart sank when she answered the phone call. She had just been to Andrews Street earlier after receiving a call from a concerned resident about a dead fawn. However, after arriving at the house, she discovered two newborn fawns quietly waiting the return of their mother.

She immediately knew it was one of the two fawns she had already encountered. She made her way to the sidewalk gutter without much hope of being able to help the animal.

"Without that video it would have been hard to believe something like that could happen," Wilkins said.

Wilkins said she knelt next to the grate and tried to see or hear any signs that the fawn was alive. After trying to find the fawn, Wilkins reached out to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and city's streets division. City employee Rick Owens arrived first. He was able to squeeze down the hole and look for the baby. While people searched, the fawn had safely landed on its back and started traveling through the system of pipes. Owens spotted the fawn from his location and climbed out of the sidewalk gutter. He popped the manhole cover at the corner of Nolan Street and Andrews Street and climbed inside.

He was able to safely recover the fawn.

Wilkins wrapped her in a towel and set her back in the shade where the doe had given birth to her that morning. Wilkins said the family was later reunited.

When Finch told her granddaughter the fawn was saved, she said Byrd jumped up and down in excitement.

"I'm a hero," Byrd said.