William Albert thought he was saving a fawn when he scooped it off a road in Maryland and took it home to nurse it after its mother was hit by a car.

The New Oxford man bottle-fed the fawn in his 218 Reba Drive garage for at least three days and called around to see if they could help him find a center.

But when a wildlife officer showed up at his house just 10 minutes later, Albert said, he took the deer.

The officer arrived at Albert's house before Albert could get home, and he called Albert and said he wouldn't tell Albert's children the deer would be killed.

Now, Albert is angry, saying he received a call later that day - before the fawn was killed - from a farm in Maryland that said it would take the deer.

And Albert said his 13-year-old daughter, Amber, overheard the conversation when the officer called him and cried for almost five hours.

His 7-year-old daughter, Savannah, asks every day if the deer is coming back. Albert said he doesn't want to tell her what happened.

A good Samaritan

Albert works in Maryland and said he rescued the fawn after one of his employees found it beside a garage.

Albert said the fawn lay beside the garage for nearly a day and was unable to walk much, so he volunteered to bring it home.

Salespeople at Tractor Supply Co. suggested a formula Albert could feed to the deer, and it started drinking it from a bottle.

It was eating well, Albert said, and it became strong and looked

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healthy.

Albert said he has met with a lawyer to discuss what claims, if any, he had against the officer, whom Albert said one of his daughters let onto their property.

Albert is arguing that the officer was on his property without his permission or a warrant and that the deer shouldn't have been destroyed.

Albert said the attorney advised him to write a letter of complaint to the game commission and let them investigate.

After the investigation is closed, the attorney advised, Albert should come back to consider if he has a legal case.

'Nature wastes nothing'

Jerry Feaser, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said it's the commission's policy to kill any wild animal that has been out of the wild for more than a few hours.

A reputable deer farm wouldn't have taken the deer anyway, Feaser said, because the dealer wouldn't have any assurance the deer was healthy, and afflictions such as chronic wasting disease can spread to all other animals and kill them.

Acknowledging that it sounded unsympathetic, Feaser said if the animal was left alone and was attacked by a predator, it was nature's course.

"Nature wastes nothing," Feaser said. "That's just the way it works.

"When humans interfere, regardless of how well-meaning and well-intentioned they are, they're disrupting nature's cycle," he added.

Feaser said Albert broke state and federal laws when he brought the deer to Pennsylvania from Maryland, and he could have been fined up to $1,500.

"The bottom line is you're not allowed to take wildlife out of the wild," Feaser said.

The officer didn't issue any citations because he determined Albert had good intentions.

Besides being illegal, it's not a good idea to bring wild animals home because they might have ticks, parasites or other diseases that can infect everyone in the house, Feaser said.

He added that people who see orphaned fawns in the wild should not impose their "human parental behavior" on the animals.

"The fact of the matter is we were called about an issue, and we responded," Feaser said.