The State - News from June 28, 1987

A lifelong hunter used a pocket knife to save the life of an unborn fawn whose mother had been hit and killed in a highway accident near Guerneville in Northern California. Marge Davis of the Sonoma Wildlife Rehabilitation center said David Koester, 26, a roofer, did a “beautiful job” of performing a Caesarean section on the dead doe, and the fawn was “frisky, feisty and eating.” Koester and his girlfriend were rounding a curve during a drive at dusk when the pregnant deer ran in front of his truck and was struck. When Koester saw the doe’s belly jiggling, he said he reached for his knife and delivered the animal. Afterwards, he said, he had a hard time giving the fawn up to the wildlife center.