Forest ranger Erik de Jonge has already rescued twenty fawns this week. Before farmers start mowing the meadows of Brabants Landschap, he scans the meadows with a number of volunteers and a drone. Also this Wednesday morning. In this way they prevent fawns, but also pheasant chicks and hares from being caught by a mower.
Something that, according to the forester of Brabants Landschap, always ends fatally for an animal. “Thanks to the drone we don’t miss anything,” says De Jonge on Wednesday morning after six fawns were brought to safety in the meadows between Woensdrecht and Bergen op Zoom.
Among the six fawns this morning was a very small one. One that was not older than two days. “The body was no bigger than a bunny. The smallest I’ve ever held in my hands,” he says enthusiastically. That he is very happy with this work is still too weak an expression. For the forester this is the highlight of the year.
“When we hold a little one, the mother sometimes comes running from the forest.”
In recent years, he and a team of volunteers have often gone out to save fawns from mowing death. Back then, a meadow with a larger group of volunteers still had to be literally scoured. “When the farmers started mowing after us, it sometimes turned out that we had missed one. Now that really doesn’t happen anymore.” Because the drone ensures that fawns are better spotted. “Several farmers have already started mowing after we checked a meadow, but no one has been killed yet.”
However, the use of drones in the vicinity of Woensdrecht Air Base has many limitations. Therefore, it could not be widely used before. “If we see a fawn on the images, we walk towards it. The drone pilot always gives us directions. Step left, step right. They are really barely visible in the tall grass. When we find one, we grab one the animal with gloves on and we put the calf at the edge of the forest. It all happens so quickly that the mother does not reject them.”
“They call a few times and then they always find each other.”
De Jonge has never experienced the latter in his already long career as a ‘bambi rescuer’. According to him, the gloves ensure that the smell of people does not stick to the calves. “When we hold a little one, the mother sometimes comes running from the forest. They call a few times and then almost always find each other.”
The team always sets out very early for their rescues. Necessary, because the drone is equipped with a thermal camera. The animals can only be traced with this when the grass is still cold. According to De Jonge, farmers are very happy with the help from him and the volunteers. “They also do not want an animal to end up in their mower. When they want to mow, they therefore call us so that we can check the meadow first. Then they get to work. This week we have about fifteen to twenty pastures controlled.”
It is now a busy period for De Jonge and his volunteers, because farmers are allowed to mow the meadows of Brabants Landschap from mid-June. This has been agreed in order to ensure that a great diversity of plants and animals continues to exist in the areas. But it is a difficult period for the deer. After all, they are having young right now, which means that there are now a lot of small fawns.
Waiting for privacy settings…
ALSO READ: Forest ranger saves seven fawns from mowing death, because ‘doing nothing is not an option’