Feel-good Friday: AZGFD Officer Rescues Cholla-covered Fawn

Arizona Game and Fish Department sent this bulletin at 03/14/2025 01:38 PM MST

Mar. 14, 2025

AZGFD wildlife officer rescues cholla-covered fawn

cholla-covered fawn and bucket of cholla

KINGMAN, Ariz. - Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) wildlife officers never know what they’ll face from one day to the next.

Two weeks ago, the department’s radio dispatch center received a call about a deer fawn in Chloride, Ariz., that was covered in cholla cactus. They relayed the information to AZGFD wildlife officer Troy Moody in Kingman, who contacted the reporting party and was told the fawn typically came onto the person’s property around 2:30 p.m. each afternoon. Officer Moody arrived to find several deer, but the fawn was nowhere to be seen.

About 15 minutes later, however, the fawn and its mother approached the property. Officer Moody noticed the fawn had cholla spines by the hundreds all over its body, not just the clumps visible on its face. He was able to chemically immobilize the fawn and began removing the cholla while the fawn’s mother watched from a distance.

“Most concerning,” said Officer Moody, “were the spines in the fawn’s eyelids, nose, and mouth, keeping it from eating or drinking.”

After a lot of time—and plenty of cholla spines in his hands and legs—Officer Moody was able to remove all of the cholla from the fawn’s entire body.

“Thankfully, no cholla had entered the fawn’s eye, and there was no lasting injury,” said Moody. “I was able to reverse the drug and the fawn quickly woke up and joined its mother, who had been patiently waiting nearby."

“AZGFD is proud of Officer Moody for putting his own comfort aside and going the extra mile to make sure that this fawn could return to a normal life,” said AZGFD Kingman Regional Supervisor Karen Klima. “It’s part of the department’s mission to conserve and protect wildlife.”

The Arizona Game and Fish Department receives no general fund tax dollars. The majority of funding to manage more than 800 native wildlife species comes from Arizona's hunters and anglers.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department receives Federal assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and thus prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age and sex pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. To request an accommodation or informational material in an alternative format or to file a discrimination complaint please contact the Director’s Office at (602) 942-3000 or by mail at 5000 West Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086. Discrimination complaints can also be filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Diversity and Inclusive Workforce, Attention: Public Civil Rights and Disability Coordinator, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041.

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