A construction expert who saves deer: Andreas Wachlinger discovers 18 fawns in one weekend

Created: 05/18/2022, 08:00

By: Boris Forstner

The young fawns crouch deep in the grass - there they face an agonizing mowing death.

© Andreas G. Wachlinger

Searching meadows with drones to discover hidden fawns is becoming increasingly popular.

Andreas Wachlinger from Peißenberg is one of the newcomers.

He has big plans.

Peißenberg

– Until recently, it was still common for many volunteers to walk across a meadow to discover hidden fawns.

The young deer are often laid down in the grass for hours by their parents. Thanks to the lack of their own odour, the animals cannot be scented by predators.

But the lack of an escape reflex is fatal for tractors and their mowers.

"With a thermal drone, you save an incredible amount of time and can search much larger areas," says Wachlinger.

The 53-year-old Peißenberger is actually not the typical animal rescuer.

He is a master painter and varnisher and works as a building surveyor.

To do this, he often flies over house facades with his drone – and since last year also meadows.

"I know a few hunters who once asked me if I could support them," says Wachlinger.

On some days this turned into a full-time job.

20 hectares checked in 20 minutes

Last weekend, for example, he had so many appointments that he got up at 3 a.m. on Saturday and didn't get home until 3:30 p.m. It was similar on Sunday.

"It's three to four stressful weeks, that's fine," says Wachlinger, who can organize his time as a freelancer.

Spring is the most dangerous time for fawns because the first few weeks after birth coincide with the first mowing.

Andreas Wachlinger has been rescuing fawns for two years.

© Andreas Wachlinger

Like other fawn rescuers, Wachlinger is happy when hunters and farmers contact him and ask him to search their fields.

"It's done by word of mouth, I also work closely with the Pollinger fawn rescuers, who even have two drones," says Wachlinger.

The Peißenberg hunting cooperative is now also equipped with thermal imaging camera drones, which is increasing more and more - to the delight of the rescuers.

If he can enter the correct GPS data, the drone will fly over the area on his own, so he only has to look at the screen.

"I can cover 20 hectares in 20 minutes, which takes two hours without a drone and with lots of helpers," says Wachlinger.

Deer is carefully carried to the edge of the meadow

And the success rate is impressive: "My hit rate is 100 percent," says Wachlinger proudly.

It's easier in the morning, when the deer stand out more clearly in the grass.

At midday, a bright spot can also be a heated molehill.

He then directs the helpers there - "sometimes they almost climbed on a fawn because you really can't see it in the grass," says Wachlinger.

The little deer is then carried carefully with tufts of grass in his hands to the edge of the meadow, where he is picked up by the goat.

He has already saved 18 fawns from the knives of the mowers this year, nine on that Saturday alone.

He's in demand again this week.

With the thermal drone, the deer can be clearly seen in the grass, two helpers are approaching below.

© Andreas Wachlinger

Mostly hunters turn to him, only a few farmers and mostly organic farmers.

That annoys him a bit, especially when he overhears discussions about the sense and nonsense of fawn rescues.

"Because the farmer or the commissioned contractor has a duty to search for wild animals before mowing, in order to protect wild animals from being killed by the mower," Wachlinger knows.

If he doesn't do that, he violates §17 of the Animal Welfare Act.

"This is tantamount to the deliberate killing of vertebrates for no good reason," says Wachlinger.

Fawn seekers not only save the animals

Due to his obligation to maintain the game, the hunting leaseholder is required to take part in the search before mowing.

If he doesn't do that, in the worst case it can cost him the refusal of his hunting license, he says, referring to a current technical report by the deputy chief of hunters in North Rhine-Westphalia.

"The fawn hunters and the helpers are not a bunch to be sneered at, but protect wild animals from death and others from severe punishment," says Wachlinger.

In addition, the farmers drive more relaxed to the mowing.

“They often have their children with them.

It's also not a pretty sight for them when they see a fawn that has been mowed over," says Wachlinger.

He now wants to found an association to spread the fawn rescue even more widely among the population.