Wildlife / A baby or hurt animal

A baby that looks abandoned.

Spring and summer bring fawns, baby birds, and bunnies that seem alone. They almost never are. Picking them up is the most common wildlife mistake Texans make - and it's usually both harmful and illegal.

The two you'll meet most

When it truly needs help: A young animal truly needs help when it's covered in fire ants, or clearly injured or sick - and also if it's cold and limp, bleeding, or you watched the parent die. Then: don't feed it (the wrong food can kill it), keep it warm, dark, and quiet in a box, and call a permitted wildlife rehabilitator.

An injured or sick wild animal

The kindest, most legal move is almost always the same: don't handle it yourself - reach a permitted wildlife rehabilitator. Rehabbers are trained and licensed to care for protected wildlife; it's hard to do right, and illegal without a permit.

• -TPWD keeps a county-by-county list of permitted rehabbers. Check your county and the neighboring ones - the nearest may be a county over.
• -Call before you transport anything. The rehabber will tell you if they can take that species and how to handle it.
• -TPWD advises the public not to handle or move injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife. If you must move a small animal to safety, minimize contact, keep it warm and quiet, and don't offer food or water.
• -Never handle a sick mammal that's acting strangely (see Diseases) - call animal control or a game warden instead.

A turtle in the road? Found a turtle crossing a road? If it's safe for you and traffic, you can move it across in the direction it was already heading - never turn it around, and never take it home.