Fawn pulled from the shore of Fire Island by heroic police officers
(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers just so happened to be in the right place at the right time when it came to the life of a baby deer freezing to death off the shore of Fire Island this week.
At approximately 1:04 p.m. officers Robert Femia and Peter Bogachunas noticed a baby deer, otherwise known as a fawn, about 30 yards out in the frigid water off of Davis Park Marina on Fire Island, where they were headed in their patrol boat.
Knowing that the creature couldn’t last long in the icy water, the officers acted fast and pulled the deer, who was in water about seven to eight feet deep, onto the boat. They immediately wrapped it with a blanket in an attempt to dry it off as quickly as possible.
The fawn was initially unresponsive and appeared to possibly be in shock from the intense cold, according to the officers.
After docking at the Davis Park Marina and drying off and warming the fawn up, it’s condition seemed to steadily improve, said the officers. While tending to the fawn, the officers reported that a family of deer approached them and began to gently lick the fawn. Taking the fawn to their headquarters situated close by, the officers continued to warm it up and fed it popcorn, which seemed to help it recover further.
Eventually, the fawn had recovered enough to move about, at which time it joined the family of deer and ran off, the officers said. It is unknown how the fawn had gotten into the water.
