{"id":818168,"date":"2026-08-18T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/818168\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T23:34:10","slug":"maine-photographer-inspired-by-three-legged-deer-caring-for-fawns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/818168\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine photographer inspired by three-legged deer caring for fawns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Three-legged deer named Tripod becomes source of inspiration for Maine photographer<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787096050_121_author_avatar.png\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Default author avatar\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>WASHINGTON COUNTY, Maine \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">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<p data-node-id=\"1\">Tanya Decatur, an amateur wildlife photographer, said she has long found comfort in photographing animals near her home.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">\u201cI\u2019ve just always had a love for wildlife,\u201d Decatur told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wabi.tv\/2026\/08\/17\/three-legged-deer-becomes-source-inspiration-maine-photographer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">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<p data-node-id=\"3\">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 &#8220;Snow White&#8221; a few times over the years.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">\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<p data-node-id=\"5\">One of Decatur\u2019s backyard photos spread widely online, drawing comments from as far as Australia.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">\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<p data-node-id=\"7\">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<p data-node-id=\"8\">During a predawn visit, Tripod emerged from the tree line at sunrise \u2014 accompanied by two fawns.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"9\">Decatur said Tripod took in at least one of the fawns after another doe was struck by a car in the area.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"10\">\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<p data-node-id=\"11\">Decatur said Tripod\u2019s resilience has become a source of personal motivation.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"12\">\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<p data-node-id=\"13\">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&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[14144,228,226,227,31264,41489,105324,10740,229,347120,88,20607,3025,44916,10482,347125,14971,22335,5053,347126,44672,347121,347123,347124,347127,174018,347122,9564,14972],"class_list":["post-818168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-animal","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","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-washington-county","tag-wmtw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}