Injured 'Spud' to run like a gazelle

A badly injured baby gazelle is recovering at a veterinary hospital after a resident found it in a precarious condition by the roadside in Dubai. The fawn, whom the vets nicknamed "Spud", was about a week old and weighed 1kg when she was found in late January with head injuries in Nad Al Sheba, near the Meydan Racecourse. "She had some bite marks," said Dr Giulio Russo, an Italian vet at Nad Al Sheba Veterinary Hospital. "The wounds suggest they were inflicted perhaps by a stray cat or a small predator. If a desert fox had found her before her rescue, we would have never seen her." "The guy who first found her saw her on the roadside in the morning. A few hours later, when he came back that same way, the gazelle was still there." Spud is now recovering. The gazelle was fed organic goat's milk and hay and has gained 3kg in the last five weeks. She currently stays in a pen outside the vet hospital. The graceful animal is common in the Arabian peninsula, known by their Arabic names ghazal or dhabi (and has given its name to the capital, Abu Dhabi (father of, or possession of, the gazelle). Dr Russo thinks there are between 60 and 100 wild gazelles in the Nad Al Sheba desert area. "The desert around this area still teems with wildlife, including gazelles and foxes," said Dr Russo. Gazelles hide in the bushes and oases and feed on grass and can grow horns up to 30cm long. They are preyed upon by desert foxes and caracals - but they can run exceptionally fast at speeds of up to 100km/h. "She was in real danger when the rescuer found her, and not in the desert or in the bushes, which is her natural habitat." Once weaned, in about a month's time, Spud will be taken back to the wild. Under a controlled release, Spud will be placed inside a special pen with hay and gazelle pellets in the desert at night. After other gazelles draw close to her and they graze together, she will be released back into the wild. If you come upon a baby gazelle If you find a baby gazelle, leave it in peace. Don't touch it, unless it's in trouble or risks being run over. Its mother will usually be nearby. If you touch it, the mother will not go back to the baby as they view your smell as that of a predator.