{"id":1009510,"date":"2026-08-18T22:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1009510\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T22:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:19:15","slug":"maine-photographer-inspired-by-three-legged-deer-caring-for-fawns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1009510\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine photographer inspired by three-legged deer caring for fawns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three-legged deer named Tripod becomes source of inspiration for Maine photographer<\/p>\n

\"DefaultWASHINGTON COUNTY, Maine \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seeing a deer move through the Maine woods isn\u2019t an uncommon sight, but one deer in Washington County has something special about her.<\/p>\n

Tanya Decatur, an amateur wildlife photographer, said she has long found comfort in photographing animals near her home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just always had a love for wildlife,\u201d Decatur told WMTW media partner WABI<\/a>. \u201cWhen I\u2019m having a bad day or a stressful day, I just take a drive and there\u2019s always animals out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decatur said she doesn\u2019t have to leave her backyard for many of her photos. Sometimes deer even wander right up to her lens, a feat she said has caused her to be called “Snow White” a few times over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so awesome. I have a hard time going to work some days. I\u2019ll be out doing my farm chores and the deer will be out around like as you see today. And like, can I just call in to work?\u201d Decatur said.<\/p>\n

One of Decatur\u2019s backyard photos spread widely online, drawing comments from as far as Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blew my mind,\u201d Decatur said. \u201cI knew it would be popular. I knew everybody would love it, but not to that extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The subject of the photo was a three-legged doe Decatur named Tripod, after the deer lost a leg in a hunting accident.<\/p>\n

During a predawn visit, Tripod emerged from the tree line at sunrise \u2014 accompanied by two fawns.<\/p>\n

Decatur said Tripod took in at least one of the fawns after another doe was struck by a car in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up one morning having my coffee and my window overlooks the field across from my house and I saw a baby and then I saw another baby and then I saw Tripod and then I saw her baby,\u201d Decatur said. \u201cAnd then I was right in awe that she took them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decatur said Tripod\u2019s resilience has become a source of personal motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be that strong \u2014 and I know she\u2019s an animal, but us as humans, we can have that too,\u201d Decatur said. \u201cShe\u2019s missing a leg and she\u2019s pushing through and strong and feisty. And I hope that I do that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decatur said she hopes Tripod serves as a reminder that inspiration can be found anywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three-legged deer named Tripod becomes source of inspiration for Maine photographer WASHINGTON COUNTY, Maine \u2014 Seeing a deer…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1009511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[4749,648,1032,630,20158,404246,984,1033,404240,171,42200,58284,39777,2741,404245,16366,20517,28910,404247,17521,404241,404243,404244,404248,205799,404242,67,132,68,8838,10694],"class_list":["post-1009510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-animal","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-baby","tag-backyard","tag-bad-day","tag-deer","tag-design","tag-downeast","tag-entertainment","tag-fawn","tag-inspiration","tag-leg","tag-maine","tag-maine-photographer","tag-maines-total-coverage","tag-photo","tag-photographer","tag-predawn-visit","tag-source","tag-tanya-decatur","tag-three-legged-deer","tag-three-legged-doe-cares-for-fawns","tag-tree-line","tag-tripod","tag-tripod-the-deer","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-washington-county","tag-wmtw"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117118840799643752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1009511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1009510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1009510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}