{"id":2034,"date":"2026-06-08T22:35:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2026-06-08T22:35:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:35:47","slug":"this-year-an-nc-animal-rescue-will-take-in-150-baby-deer-orphaned-by-passing-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2034","title":{"rendered":"This year, an NC animal rescue will take in 150 baby deer orphaned by passing cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

The collection of hard-luck critters relaxing around Holly\u2019s Nest Animal Rescue<\/a> already includes four beavers sleeping in the bathtub, a skunk nestled in the back bedroom and a one-legged duck nicknamed \u201cPogo Stick\u201d hopping around the pond outside.<\/p>\n

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But peak deer season hits sometime around Tuesday, and for the next month or so, Holly\u2019s Nest will take in five to eight new fawns every day \u2014 most of them orphans, their mothers killed by cars.<\/p>\n

Byron and Kim Wortham feed them all by hand through baby bottles, watching them stumble around their 100-foot enclosure on wobbly legs, batting their long eyelashes, recuperating under the cover of cut tree branches until their white spots disappear and they\u2019re old enough to wander back into the hard world.<\/p>\n

On their 12 acres outside Sanford, the Worthams run the largest deer rehab in North Carolina, and they represent the last hope for a yearly average of 150 four-legged strays. On Friday, they had 50.<\/p>\n

The fawns who arrived with an umbilical attached because their mother gave birth after being hit. The babies who kept nursing even after their mother had passed. The rare piebald deer in the back bedroom with the skunk, resting in a playpen because it was born with its hooves turned backward.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the end of June, I\u2019ll be making 100 baby bottles to feed the deer,\u201d said Byron Wortham, a baby opossum perched on his shoulder and occasionally burrowing into his hair. \u201cAbsolutely. And doing it twice. That\u2019s just the deer. I have four baby beavers in my bathtub. I have a skunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every few minutes, Wortham\u2019s phone goes off with coyote howl for a ringtone.<\/p>\n

He picks up to answer and hears those callers report fawns wandering alone, and he asks them: Are the fawns crying? For how long? Do you see flies circling their rear-ends? Because otherwise, the mama deer is probably taking a break, feeding herself so her milk sacs stay full.<\/p>\n

But some callers plain hate deer. They complain in New England accents about deer eating azaleas, nibbling Japanese maples and jumping out into the highway. But Wortham knows the deer were here first, and they\u2019ll likely take back the land we spoil one day.<\/p>\n

If the people who use terms like \u201cnuisance animals\u201d could stand close enough to a fawn to count the speckles on its back, they might leave out a bowl of azalea leaves as an offering.<\/p>\n

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Nature is hard to scorn when it nuzzles your leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give it a chance,\u201d Wortham said. \u201cAbout 95% of what I take in is because of man. It\u2019s man\u2019s responsibility to take accountability for it and say, \u2018Let\u2019s help where we can.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wortham grew up on a tobacco farm in Fuquay-Varina and, at age 7, sent away $100 for a lifetime subscription to Wildlife in North Carolina magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be Smokey the Bear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Park rangers made too little money, so he drove for UPS until he could retire.<\/p>\n

Then in their life\u2019s saddest chapter, Kim and Byron Wortham lost their 18-year-old daughter Holly to a car accident in 2004. Their rescue represents both a tribute to Holly, an animal lover, and a way to turn grief into joy.<\/p>\n

They keep a barn owl named Arthur. They house a pair of macaws named Jimmy Buffet and Bruce Springsteen in an enclosure topped by a recycled satellite dish, and the radio plays classic rock for them all day. The raccoons rest in hammocks and the foxes sleep in dog beds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand bats,\u201d Byron Wortham said. \u201cBut I\u2019m registered for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t donate to wildlife charities as much as they do dog and cat shelters. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has provided them with thousands of pristine acres to release their animals \u2014 even the beavers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t be shot,\u201d Kim Wortham said. \u201cThey can\u2019t be trapped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t that cool of him?\u201d Byron asked.<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t adopt a groundhog. You can\u2019t cuddle a raccoon. A great horned owl won\u2019t perch on a twig and chirp.<\/p>\n

Someone has to tend to creatures that scratch, claw and hunt by dark of night \u2014 the animals who run when they hear us coming.<\/p>\n

Holly\u2019s Nest is a registered nonprofit that relies on donations to care for hundreds of wild animals every year. Donations can be made at hollysnest.org\/donate<\/a> or at Holly\u2019s Nest, PO Box 4086, Sanford, NC, 27331. Call 919-499-7006 or 919-499-7776.<\/p>\n

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 5:30 AM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The animal shelter for North Carolina wildlife in Sanford helps raptors, owls and hawks hit by cars after motorists litter, and deer whose mothers die in collisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nThis year, an NC animal rescue will take in 150 baby deer orphaned by passing cars - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2034\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This year, an NC animal rescue will take in 150 baby deer orphaned by passing cars - 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