Hennessey Police officer Jeremiah Loper was on patrol last Saturday on S. Mitchell Rd about 1:30 am when he came upon a newborn fawn lying in the road. Loper said, “I sat there for a bit thinking it would get up and run away, but it didn’t.” Then, I noticed several coyotes on the east side of Mitchell Rd. There were no other deer around. So I thought, I can’t leave it here, so I got out to get it.” Loper then spent the next few minutes chasing it through the rye field until he caught it. Loper said, “I put it in the car to protect it, and then I got a call. So the fawn became my sidekick for about an hour while I worked. It laid on the floor in the car in the air conditioning.”
When Loper returned to where he found the fawn, no deer was in sight. Loper, a hunter, had a baby deer in distress sound on his phone. Loper said, “I played the distress sound over the loudspeaker on my patrol car, and a large group of deer showed up. One was a large buck with 5 or 6 does. I put the fawn next to the road, and they all ran off into the field together.”
Loper said, “I have rescued several cats from trees and have seen lots of wildlife late at night, but this is my first newborn fawn.”
Jeremiah Loper has been a reserve officer with the Hennessey Police Department for three years. He has been full-time since December.
