COEUR d’ALENE — Sandra Swank held a white and brown feather in her trembling hands as she described the heartache she was feeling.

Her eyes were bright with tears as she looked at the injured deer on her lawn. The doe's hind legs were severely damaged, rendering her immobile and unable to care for the small fawn that wandered around her.

"She's suffering," Swank said. "I just want to put her out of her misery."

The doe and fawn spent three nights in Swank's yard. She had seen them before and thought they were escaping the heat under her trees or cooling off in the grass. Monday night she noticed the mama had not moved from her spot and that she couldn't get up because her legs were broken.

“She must’ve gotten hit by a car because now both her back legs are almost off,” the distraught Swank said. "Oh my God, I just couldn't believe it. The bone is showing and everything, and you can see where something smashed into her and left imprints."

Three Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials came to Swank's house in the early afternoon. They observed the deer to figure out the best course of action.

"There’s not a standard protocol. All of these are dealt with on a case-by-case basis," said Matt Corsi, a principle fishery researcher with Fish and Game. "I’m not actually sure what we’re going to do quite yet."

Swank's house is located on the corner of a fairly busy intersection in Coeur d'Alene. Given the location and the sensitivity of the situation, the officials were reluctant to use a firearm to dispatch the animal. They said they would most likely have to euthanize the female and take the fawn to be rehabilitated and later released.

“We regularly get phone calls about injured deer. There’s deer all over town, so they get hit pretty commonly," Corsi said. “It’s a hard situation to be in because you’re in city limits, there’s people, there’s cars. Using a firearm in town to put a deer down is kind of a tricky situation.

“The reason we’re trying to figure out what to do here is because it’s very upsetting to the homeowner. This is particularly complicated."

Corsi and his colleagues said the best thing to do if injured deer end up in your yard is "let nature take its course." Don't feed them and don't get too close to them, as they are wild and unpredictable.

As of Tuesday evening, Swank reported the doe and fawn were still in her yard and professionals from Fish and Game would return this morning to make a final evaluation of the situation.

"She's always felt safe in my yard," Swank said. "I just wish whoever hit her would have stopped."

If you have questions or concerns about deer or other local wildlife, contact the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at 769-1414 or visit www.idfg.idaho.gov.