"Faster! Faster, Bambi! Don't look back! Keep running! Keep running!"
May 24, 2011 12:12 PM   Subscribe

Bambi Rescued By the Jaws of Life! [SLYT] What do you do when you find a baby deer trapped underneath a pile of rocks? Call your local firefighters, who extract the poor creature using the largest power tool they could find—the Jaws of Life. Via Gizmodo
posted by Fizz (41 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Deer are a pest that eat new growth forest and spread lime disease. It's cute, but I can't feel too great about circumventing natural selection of a creature that's way exceeded its ecosystem.
posted by codacorolla at 12:27 PM on May 24, 2011


Yay! (Anything to push the outragefilter further down the front page...) Seriously, that was adorable. Reminded me of this.
posted by Gator at 12:28 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


It's the key lime pie disease that I fear the most.

It's actually ticks who spread the lyme disease.
posted by hippybear at 12:31 PM on May 24, 2011 [3 favorites]


You know, those stones have been sitting there for a while, which means that the fawn had to have gotten in there without use of the jaws of life.

Also, the kid is right, the fawn was thirsty.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:32 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


It's the key lime pie disease that I fear the most.

Which is of course spread by Key Deer.
posted by TedW at 12:34 PM on May 24, 2011


Was anyone else hoping this video was of a deer being saved by a giant shark? Because that would have been amazing!
posted by brundlefly at 12:34 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


It was just like The Yearling, except with a happy ending!

So it was nothing like The Yearling!
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:35 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]


Flash forward two years when the Deer is shot accidentally by a kid on his first hunting
trip with his dad.

And then listen for the Irony God quietly laughing.
posted by gcbv at 12:35 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]


I was pretty much "meh"...till I saw the mother circling the site anxiously.
posted by Xoebe at 12:40 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'd think that a kid on his first hunting trip would intentionally shoot a deer?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:40 PM on May 24, 2011


Is it possible to just smile at this without snark without thinking about overpopulation or hunting or disease? Do humans impact the environment in a negative way, absolutely. But let us just look at this for what it is, a simple rescue - a kind act.
posted by Fizz at 12:40 PM on May 24, 2011 [7 favorites]


Is it possible to just smile at this without snark

You're new to MetaFilter I take it?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:43 PM on May 24, 2011 [4 favorites]




You're new to MetaFilter I take it?

I indulge in snark the same as any other mefite, but sometimes it's nice to just smile without cynicism.
posted by Fizz at 12:45 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Nobody ever suspects the butterfly.

(You done good, Fizz, don't worry.)
posted by Gator at 12:46 PM on May 24, 2011


I swear when I read the lede I thought that this would be a follow up to Marv Newland's classic.
posted by Marky at 1:11 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


I have a feeling that if it was a video of a firefighter rescuing a snakehead from a trap then you'd be less willing to see it as a "kind act."

I was wrong about lyme disease, but deer eating new growth forest is a major issue for the small areas of forest that we have left.
posted by codacorolla at 1:11 PM on May 24, 2011


This made me smile.

Also: deer are tasty.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:35 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Fizz, just think to yourself about the cynics all being run over by cars or accidentally shot by hunters.

Aaaaahhhhh. That's better. :)
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:40 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


No, you were correct codacorolla. Deer definitely spread lyme disease, just as rats spread bubonic plague. Deer carry deer ticks, which are a major vector of lyme disease. Occurrence of lyme disease in humans is strongly correlated with the local deer population.
posted by ryanrs at 1:56 PM on May 24, 2011


"video of a firefighter rescuing a snakehead from a trap"

A cute baby snakehead? With nasty big pointy teeth? That would be awesome.
posted by HopperFan at 2:00 PM on May 24, 2011


Isn't it more likely that the fawn was safely where her mother had left her? It would explain the doe's distress--no safe place to hide her kid!
posted by orrnyereg at 2:06 PM on May 24, 2011


No, you were correct codacorolla. Deer definitely spread lyme disease, just as rats spread bubonic plague. Deer carry deer ticks, which are a major vector of lyme disease. Occurrence of lyme disease in humans is strongly correlated with the local deer population.

I found conflicting stuff with further research, so I erred on the opposing side. Do you have a link to a government report, just out of curiosity? It'd be nice to get some sort of verified facts.
posted by codacorolla at 2:08 PM on May 24, 2011


What is the source of the distinct, ungodly zombie scream in the background around 1:02?

Zombambi?
posted by zylocomotion at 2:15 PM on May 24, 2011


...but deer eating new growth forest is a major issue for the small areas of forest that we have left.

If that's a logical basis for objecting to the rescue of a fawn, how far does that line of reasoning extend? We wouldn't be fretting about "the small areas of forest we have left" if humans weren't busy deforesting huge swaths of the planet. So... If a child were trapped by boulders, do we not rescue the child? After all, we "can't feel too great about circumventing natural selection of a creature that's way exceeded its ecosystem."
posted by amyms at 2:22 PM on May 24, 2011 [12 favorites]


1. I don't think it's "natural selection" when the deer falls into a rock pile created by people to mark the edge of their yard.

2. Note the child present. When you have a kid there, and you find a baby deer trapped in the rocks, you don't say to your second-grader, "Well, deer eat new growth forest, so we're going to let the baby deer starve to death trapped under a rock in our yard while its mother paces frantically and does whatever the deer equivalent of screaming for help is."

3. As for whether a snake would be as satisfying to save, I'm not sure how shocking and appalling it is that humans respond differently to animals that (1) aren't poisonous or similar-looking to something poisonous, (2) aren't household pests (note I said HOUSEHOLD pests; I understand the environmental point you made), and (3) closely resemble animals we have domesticated. So we respond emotionally to an animal that bears certain resemblances to horses or dogs more than we do to a slime mold? Yes. Guilty. So?

4. I have to concur with the wish that it were easier to appreciate a small attempt to be kind to animals without there having to be some reason why, in fact, this sucks.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 2:24 PM on May 24, 2011 [11 favorites]


Linda_Holmes said it much better than I did.
posted by amyms at 2:29 PM on May 24, 2011


A snakehead isn't a snake. It's an invasive species, a fish that can walk around on land, has no natural predators, and IT EATS BABIES.

Ok, that last bit isn't true.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:41 PM on May 24, 2011


A snakehead ate my baby.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:44 PM on May 24, 2011


Codacorolla, there is some discussion in the Wikipedia article Ixodes scapularis (aka deer tick). You might start your search with the listed citations. It should be fairly easy to find something; I believe lyme disease epidemiology is well understood.
posted by ryanrs at 2:48 PM on May 24, 2011


Rescue tools are good heavy duty fun and an excellent application of hydraulics. In extrication school we turned a late model Cadillac into a jigsaw puzzle inside of fifteen minutes, then last week used it to gently pry apart a piece of playground equipment just enough to free a little kid's leg.
posted by Standeck at 2:54 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


BitterOldPunk: "Ok, that last bit isn't true."

I don't know. The episode of "River Monsters" about snakeheads had a... what's the phrase... "speculative reenactment" of one stalking an infant human. And if you can't trust a cable pop science show, what can you trust?
posted by brundlefly at 3:01 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Deer are a pest that eat new growth forest and spread lime disease. It's cute, but I can't feel too great about circumventing natural selection of a creature that's way exceeded its ecosystem.

Because you and I have personally done the Earth nothing but good. Presumably you feel iffy about medical treatment for and surgery on humans too?
posted by tumid dahlia at 3:27 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Deer Humans are a pest that eat destroy new growth forest everything and spread lime disease every known disease. It's cute, but I can't feel too great about circumventing natural selection of a creature that's way exceeded its ecosystem.

Cats and dogs are also invasive species.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 3:51 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Yet another reason to love the firefighters.
posted by puddinghead at 5:46 PM on May 24, 2011


BitterOldPunk: "A snakehead isn't a snake. It's an invasive species, a fish that can walk around on land, has no natural predators, and IT EATS BABIES.

Ok, that last bit isn't true.
"

In Hong Kong a snakehead is a parasite that feeds off the hope or despair of human beings by cramming them into shipping containers and sending them to other countries.
posted by bwg at 6:10 PM on May 24, 2011


"A snakehead isn't a snake. It's an invasive species, a fish that can walk around on land"

Yes, I know. "All snakehead species are known for their sharp teeth"

Cuuuuuuute (please don't eat me Baby Snakehead)
posted by HopperFan at 6:54 PM on May 24, 2011


What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No eye-deer!

What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs?
Still no eye-deer!

What do you call a deer with no eyes, no legs, and no balls?
Still no-fucking eye-deer.

That is all.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:55 PM on May 24, 2011


The best part of this video is the little girl holding the flashlight pretending to be Katie Couric. Classic. I always did that too, but with a hairbrush.
posted by Kokopuff at 10:45 AM on May 25, 2011


Personally, I don't see what all thsose firefighters were fawning over.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:19 AM on May 25, 2011


The thing that touched me the most is that little girl's clear belief that everything will be all right. There is no anxiety that the firefighters would fail, or the fawn would be hurt, or anything like that. It's something to behold, the actual definition of childhood innocence.
posted by Snyder at 11:07 PM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


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