A few years ago while Jeanne was visiting me here a fawn was born under the cabin porch. She made a fun video of it and posted it somewhere, here, or on Facebook.
During the years since the deer have usually dropped a fawn or two somewhere within sight of the cabin. This year, though, there have been three within 30-40 yards. Maybe they feel safe because I’m not at war with them over chicken feed the way I was previous years. We’ve settled down to mostly ignoring one another with them going after apple cores I throw out, or one will occasionally come onto the porch to make a try for the cat food.
But the last doe to drop a fawn left it out in the meadow for a while and I noticed it lying out there. I wasn’t much concerned because a doe will do that, fawn stays until she returns, nobody any worse for the wear. But after a couple or three hours it was still there, so I walked out for a look.
Fawn was covered with fire ants. I stood a while deciding whether to try to brush them off but it’s a tough call. The fawn might run away where the doe couldn’t find it, or the smell of a human might keep the doe from recognizing the fawn when she returned.
But I’ve seen fire ants kill a fawn in similar situations, completely disappear it in 24 hours, not even leaving any hair, teeth or eyeballs.
I finally just decided to let it be and hope the doe would come back to lick off the ants.
Anyone thinks Mama Nature ain’t a cruel lady hasn’t been around her much.
So Far From Heaven 
Fire ants are nasty, nasty little things. I’ll pretty much let anything I come across in the wild be, except mosquitoes and fire ants. There’s no better source of entertainment, for me, at least, than kicking at a fire ant nest near a pond and watching the bream feast on the little devils.
Hi Cotton Boll Conspiracy. Good seeing you’re still around. Yeah, they’re eating machines. Last year I thought they were under control by the wasps Texas Dept of Agriculture released a few years ago, but I suppose it was just drought kept their numbers down. This year they’re back in force. Thanks for coming by. J
I had hopes that the wasp program would control the ants, but I don’t know that anything can slow them down. People get worked up over “killer bees”; I think fire ants are far more destructive.
Glad you’re back posting, Jules. I missed your take on things.
CBC: Fire ants are too much like human beings in some ways to not be a lesson about something, thinks I. Gracias, J
Yes, ole Mother Nauture can sure be cruel at times. Species like fire ants which are not native, come into an area and take over because in an area where they are not native, they have no natural enemies to control them.
Hi DizzyDick. Thanks for the read. Mama Nature probably hasn’t gotten used to the world being so small nowadays. Invasive species can and do ride in every which way. One of these days when some small world phenomenon reduces the population of man I expect Texas will be covered with elephants, camels, ostriches, every kind of African beastie they’re building $100 per foot fences to keep inside their holdings. Ought to be a sight to behold. Gracias, J
Ugh.