March 13, 2025 – The AquaNew Ranch is adjacent to over 300,000 acres of wilderness preserves and conservation easements that are called in its entirety “the Myakka Island”. It is a green paradise except nutritious food stuffs for the grazing mammals are limited. Sarasota, FL. is in a sub-tropical zone where the diversity of plants are limited due to the extreme temperature variances throughout the year (colder winters and hotter summers) when compared to the zones either in the South or in the North, respectively. Corn is a limited spring-time only crop and the oak trees drop their acorns in the fall. Deer mainly feed on grass and other herbaceous plants. The white-tail deer in our backyard are smaller than the ones to the North that have more access to corn fields. Recently, we have had a pack of considerably smaller white-tail deer and one Park Ranger theorize that has resulted from decades of malnutrition. They are definitely spunky getting their place at the feed buckets and do not hesitate to move the larger deer out of the way. I guess size does not hinder the innate drive for survival.
Through the years, we have observed broken legs on deer. Their legs are built for speed to leap over bard-wire fencing but they can get entangled even in the dense vegetation or slick mud in the wetland sloughs. Their narrow hocks can easily break and we see on occasion a deer that will hobble to the feed buckets. The natural human instinct to try assisting an injured animal is triggered and we read on Google what to do. The online advice from mammal biologists is to leave the animal alone and allow time to heal naturally. Through the years, we have witnessed several deer with tragic leg injuries to heal and be able to run again. The hock area will calcify and become larger in width but the anatomy of deer is likely similar to that of horses with muscles starting at the knee. The healed hock kinda becomes like a peg leg. The photo above shows the most recent “healed” buck as he leaped from his injured back leg out of the dense vegetation over three months after the initial injury. It is gratifying to see him able to keep up with the rest of his deer bunch while enjoying daily brunches at the Ranch.
It makes me wonder about the power of grounding, hydration and proper nutrition for our own pets to keep them healthier (us too).
For the entire 2025 Series on Be the Ahh! Pets, go to this link.
Sharing AHA! Discoveries
Do you have a “AHA!” Discovery to share for a longer and healthier life (and also for your pets) or a cleaner environment? Or, do you have a discovery story to share on a different topic?