NEW SUMMERFIELD, Texas (KETK) — A pregnant doe was hit by a truck in Texas last week, causing her to give birth on impact, and surprisingly, her twin fawns survived.
“There was a truck coming from New Summerfield on 110 towards Troup, and the deer ran right in front of him, and he hit her,” said driver, BJ Franchieseur.
Franchieseur’s dash camera captured the Friday collision.
“You can actually see that I had one that went right in between my two front tires and I kind of centered over the second fawn to come out,” said Franchieseur. “I completely avoided the momma deer, and I went right over the top of the baby.”
Both drivers reported the accident, and a local game warden dispatched an animal rehabilitator. Texas Parks and Wildlife officials realized that not one, but two fawns were born upon impact.
“They showed me as we walked along the shoulder of Highway 110 (towards New Summerfield) where this happened, and suddenly in the tall grass was another baby,” said animal rehabilitator Dawn Russell. “I grabbed that baby and he was covered in ants and was slimy and shaking. He’s the little one of the two.”
The accident occurred at a county road highway intersection at 11:15 a.m. Friday.
“He shot out of her and slid across the pavement and landed in the ditch. That’s the one that I luckily found. The mother spun around on the road on her side, and in the video, you see Comet come out,” said Russell, referring to one of the fawns. The other fawn has been named Cannon.
Russell described the circumstances of the birth as miraculous.
“It is nothing short of a miracle that they are up. We do have a little trauma. Cannon has a little bit of head and eye trauma to that right eye. Comet does have a broken femur. We didn’t realize any of that until the day went on as they tried to stand up,” said Russell.
Comet is expected to have surgery in the coming week for his broken femur.
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