Wildlife / A baby or hurt animal
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.
A doe leaves her fawn hidden and still for hours while she feeds - that's normal, not abandonment. A fawn curled in the grass that isn't crying, isn't covered in fire ants, has eyes that aren't swollen, and shows no wound: leave it alone and keep pets away.
If the bird has feathers, open eyes, and is hopping around, it's a fledgling learning to fly - its parents are nearby. Leave it. A featherless, eyes-closed baby out of the nest may need help: gently put it back if you can reach the nest (the myth that parents reject a human-touched baby is false). A blown-down nest can be set back in the tree.
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.
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.
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.
Official sources
Guidance on young and injured wildlife comes from TPWD, which keeps the county-by-county list of permitted rehabilitators. It's illegal to possess most native wildlife yourself.
Caution: It's illegal to keep most native wildlife without a permit. When an animal needs help, a permitted rehabber is the right - and legal - call.
