It’s always exciting to be able to report about something good coming from a bad situation.
According to The Prarie Post, on the Morning of May 28th, a pronghorn was hit by a car on a highway in Alberta. A rancher by the name of Tyrel Pahl found the severely wounded doe. He called Alberta Fish and Wildlife who dispatched Jeff Gilham to the scene. The pair knew that it was likely the doe either had a fawn with her or was about to give birth. “They all calve within about a week so that there’s too many for the coyotes to get all of them and they are able to sustain levels,” said Gilham.
Pahl, suspecting female was still pregnant, returned home to get a scalpel. When Gilham arrive, he made the decision to do an emergency cesarion. “I had never done it before but as a rancher, I’d seen lots of cesareans on cows so I kind of knew what I was looking for,” said Pahl. “I found the back legs then cut through the uterus and then pulled him out. He had drank a little fluid. I irritated his nose and he started sniffling and snorting and started to breathe.”
Gilham then too the fawn to the Animal Medical Centre South in Dunmore. They were able to successfully feed, warm up, and get the pronghorn on his feet. The rancher visited later that day with his daughters who named the pronghorn Saamis.
Saamis the pronghorn fawn is doing well
Saamis, the little proghorn fawn born by emergency cesarean on Hwy 41 two weeks ago, is doing well in Saskatoon. Full story in Thursday's Medicine Hat News. Here's the original story from May 30 – https://medicinehatnews.com/news/local-news/2019/05/30/fatally-injured-pronghorn-moms-fawn-saved/
Posted by Medicine Hat News on Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Since then, Saamis has made a home at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo. “Saamis is going to turn out to be one heck of a valuable little guy,” said zoo manager, Tim Sinclair-Smith. “Out of a sad situation, actually something incredible can happen here.” The Saskatoon zoo does not have many male pronghorn, so Saamis will be very important for diversifying genetics. His offspring can be sent to other zoos and pass on the diverse genetics.
