Licensed wildlife rehabilitator Carrie Long of Texas Fawn and Friends specializes in deer rescue.
But when she got a call about a 3-week-old baby raccoon in distress in knew she needed to help that baby too.
The raccoon, who she named Jasper, was found all alone during a rainstorm after his mom abandoned him.
A woman found poor Jasper, who is believed to be the runt of his litter, soaking wet in a pool of water and reached out to Long for help.
“We weren’t sure he was going to make it,” Long told The Dodo.
But Justin was in very loving hands and did well in Long’s care.
Justin survived and was nursed back to health.
Thanks to Long, he grew into a healthy adult.
While he was free to leave the sanctuary and head back out into the wild, he decided to stick around.
Jasper figured that since he knew what it was like to be a baby that was left on your own, he could probably help the orphaned deer at Texas Fawn and Friends to feel less lonely.
He now has 75 deer friends he can hang around with on the sprawling sanctuary. But there was one deer named Hope that Jasper became especially attached to.
“Hope was a fawn that I received in that had [also] lost her mother,” Long told My Modern Met. “As time went on, Hope was released as she became old enough. He loves playing with the dogs but he has so much fun with her, I guess because she’s larger than the dogs and he’s able to hold on to her!”
Whenever Jasper sees Hope, he gets really excited. He runs up to her to lick her face and give her hugs.
It’s pretty darn adorable.
One video of Jasper and Hope loving on each other was viewed more than 55,000 times. It shows Jasper climbing all over his girl and lying on her back, and wrapping his arms around her neck.
He actually looks a little aggressive in his play.
But Hope doesn’t mind being a jungle gym when it comes to her best pal.
“He sees her every day,” Long said. “In the evening, she comes and lays next to him. They’ve got a cool relationship going on.”
But Jasper and Hope are just two of the animals that Long cares for at Texas Fawn and Friends.
Long estimates that there will be at least 100 orphaned fawns that she will have to care for in 2022.
Not only are these fawns given a second chance at life, but they are also given lives where they are able to thrive.
“It’s very rewarding work,” she said.
Learn more about Texas Fawns and Friends and how you could help them at texasfawn.com.
Watch Justin and his buddy Hope in the video below!
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