What is the best thing you can do for wildlife you think has been abandoned? Nothing.

Biologists advise against attempting to rescue baby animals believed to be orphaned. Doing so often causes the animals’ demise.

Missouri officials receive hundreds of calls each spring from people who find birds, raccoons, opossums and a variety of other juvenile wildlife “abandoned.” Biologists say that in most cases nothing is wrong, and human intervention is inappropriate.

Birds often grow too large for their nests before they are able to fly. They fall or jump out, and parents continue to bring food for them on the ground.

“Rescuing” a young animal from this situation is likely to result in its death because most people aren’t equipped to supply young animals’ dietary needs. And removing an animal from the wild  even if you return it later  increases the chances its parents won’t be able to find it.

Similarly, people who report “orphaned” fawns may not understand that white-tailed deer don’t stay with their young 24 hours a day.

Quite the contrary, fawns spend most of their time alone until they are old enough to keep up with their mothers. This protects fawns  which have practically no odor of their own  from being detected by predators that scent the doe.

The rule that wildlife usually is better off if you leave it in the wild works in reverse. Adopting wildlife can expose humans to undreamed-of perils. The danger may be direct, from a scratching, biting wild animal. Less obvious dangers from wild animals include contracting dangerous parasites.

If your child brings home a baby bird or rabbit, forget the popular myth that human scent will prevent the parent from taking it back.

Return the animal as quickly as possible to the place where it was found.

It is true that a young bird on the ground can be easy prey for a roaming cat or other predator. But that is how it is supposed to be.

If every robin that hatched lived to maturity, the world would be overwhelmed with robins.

If you have a flightless bird in your back yard, the best thing to do is keep your pets indoors and chase away neighbors’ cats and dogs that come snooping around.

Remember, the parent birds will continue to care for the little one until it can fly.