Baby deer 'Thomas' recovers at the Arcturos wildlife shelter

Arcturos wildlife shelter has been treating a roe deer calf just a few days old since Sunday April 26.

Thomas, as the baby deer was named (because of the day he was found), was found by hunters on Mount Paiko with a broken leg and pieces of its umbilical cord still on its body. He was immediately taken to the vet, as the baby's chances of survival in the woods with such an injury were extremely slim.

"Two hunters brought it to me, they had taken their dogs for practice on Mt. Paiko and the dogs found the roe deer. The hunters pulled their dogs away and saw that the baby deer was injured and that its mother was watching it from a distance, unable to help. They wrapped it in a blanket and brought me the animal, which with this injury had no chance to survive," veterinarian Yiannis Rintis said.

The baby deer weighs 1.5 kg and is approximately one week old. The deer's broken leg has been set in a special cast and the vets in charge believe that it will heal quickly.

Thomas will stay in the splint for about a month at the Aetos shelter in Florina, before being transferred to a fenced forest area where the preparation process for his reintegration into nature will begin.