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»Silia, little girl, come, here's your bottle...« Such a tiny fawn! But Silia is already the the »big one.«  She was the first fawn orphan that was taken to the infirmary on the Land of Peace of the International Gabriele Foundation. A farmer found her in the grass while mowing a meadow. She had an injured leg. Normally one doesn't simply take little fawns along, because their Mama comes regularly to nurse them. But if the farmer had left the fawn with its hurt leg lying there, it would not have survived.

»In Germany the law is that one cannot simply take along an injured fawn and then take it to the veterinarian« ex- plained Daniel, the animal keeper who has taken care of Silia day and night since she arrived. Animals living freely in the wild here are considered the »property« of the hunter on whose hunting grounds it was found. If you take along an animal to nurse it back to health, this is considered "poaching" and illegal. Silia was lucky; the hunter gave his permission. »We could take Silia to the veterinarian only after his consent,« said Daniel. The vet had not yet had a little fawn with a broken leg on his operating table, but he acted right away: »He x-rayed the leg and then operated with plate, screws, splint, bandage – with all the trimmings, just like it's done with people.«

The animal keeper would rather not talk about the cost of the operation – only this much: »Animals are our friends, yes, more than that, they are part of the family. And just as one does everything for a family member, sparing no cost or effort so that he or she gets healthy again, that's also how we act with our animal brothers and sisters...«

Meanwhile, Silia's is in great shape. Her leg has healed, she's grown quite a bit, jumps happily around – and now finally has a playmate: Selinda.

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»Just like all children, a fawn doesn't like to be alone,« said Daniel, animal keeper on the Land of Peace of the International Gabriele Foundation. »That's why we inquired around to see if there was another foundling somewhere in Germany – and there was: In Rosenheim was a tiny fawn found by hikers totally alone next to the railroad tracks.

When the responsible hunter came, he wanted to beat it to death right away, saying: without a mother such a little thing cannot survive ... The hikers were animal friends. They protested strongly and finally were allowed to take the fawn with them and then to an infirmary.  »This infirmary informed us – and we left right away to pick up the little fawn and bring it to the Land of Peace.« However, during the first few days the animal keepers fought for the life of the little Selinda.

She had diahrrea and got weaker and weaker. What to do? »The vet said that perhaps a blood transfusion could save her life.« And that's what happened. Silia donated some blood for her little freind and from then on things got better.  »During this difficult period, we didn't leave Selinda's side. We slept in the infirmary, gave her medication and frequently a bottle.«

The devoted care and medical care were successful. Today Selinda is a frisky fawn who already goes on excursions with her big friend Silia. »Nice would be a large enclosure, from which, when they are somewhat bigger, the two of them can go into the woods and then back home again.« For the goal is that the two deer will again become free inhabitants of the woods, who have learned that there are not only hunters in this world, but also people who respect the life of the animals. »They can pass on this ability to differentiate to other animals...«

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