The
idea: We've almost all had the heart-wrenching experience of seeing an
animal, wild or domesticated, injured or lost on or beside the road. We
may have even inadvertently hit an animal that darted out in front of
our car. Here's what to do, courtesy of -- surprise! -- PETA's Ingrid
Newkirk.
The eloquent and controversial Ingrid Newkirk of PETA has a new book
out called Making
Kind Choices : Everyday Ways to Enhance Your Life Through Earth- and
Animal-Friendly Living
with 78 short chapters (click on the above link to browse the full
table of contents), each containing advice on subjects that range from
animal- and environment-friendly cleaning, shopping and cooking to
humanely dispensing with rodents and weeds. One of the chapters deals
with how to deal with a hurt or lost animal on or beside the road. Here
is her advice (from my memory and with the help of the SPCA
guidelines -- anyone with the
book correct me if I have something wrong or missed something
important):
- Be prepared: Keep a
list of emergency numbers for your area in the car. You should have one
of these anyway for the local hospital, doctors, insurance company,
local police, drunk driving reporting line, roads & public
works, power company, towing company and garage. Just add the numbers
of the local humane society, animal rescue, wildlife rehab centre, pound
and veterinarian. And be prepared emotionally -- no matter what, this
is likely to be an emotional roller-coaster ride.
- Have a rescue kit: You
should have a first-aid kit in your car even if you're not a samaritan.
Just add to it a big towel, a blanket, some gauze (to cover a bleeding
area, or, in a pinch, to use as a muzzle), a snap-open can of
strong-smelling food, fresh water, a water bowl, and a nylon lead. Keep
it all in a cat carrier or strong cardboard box.
- Don't endanger anyone
else in your rescue: If the animal is on the road, avoid getting hit
from behind, brake carefully, and if it's a quiet road park safely
behind it with flashers on and have a passenger flagging other traffic.
Use flares if you have them. Otherwise pull off safely to the side. No
matter what, call the appropriate authorities immediately. If you
cannot safely capture and securely transport the animal, tell them its
precise location and description, give them your number, ask how long
they will be and try to stay on the scene until they arrive.
- Know your limits: Get
help if the animal is large or appears very hostile or stressed.
Otherwise speak gently, move slowly, do not look it in the eye, stay in
the animal's sight, and if it is injured or sick restrain it and try to
wrap it and lift it into your car safely and securely and take it to
the nearest veterinarian (call ahead). If you get bitten or scratched,
be prepared for a rabies regimen. If there is a risk of the animal
panicking in the car and interfering with your driving, don't drive --
leave the animal in your car, call and wait for help.
- If it's merely lost:
Consider what you would want done if your pet were lost. Don't assume
it has been deliberately abandoned. Call to it patiently and calmly,
restrain it and look for a tag or other identification. If there's a
house nearby try to find a neighbour who might know whose pet it is. In
a rural area if there's a name on the closest mailbox, use your cell
phone to call the resident. Stay calm. If you can't find it's home,
take it to the nearest animal shelter or pound. If you're willing to
adopt it if its home isn't found, tell the shelter immediately, and be
prepared to pay adoption costs (vaccinations, license, neutering).
- At the vet: Although
there are some kind and generous vets out there, be prepared to pay for
any surgery or treatment needed. Some vets won't treat wild animals or
unvaccinated pets at all -- if that happens, ask to be referred to one
who will. If it's a wild animal and it's injured, unless the injuries
are very minor and in consultation with the vet have it euthanized
immediately -- it will be terrified in confinement and unlikely to
respond and survive in the wild again. If it's wild and its injuries
are minor, ask the vet where the nearest facility is that re-introduces
animals into the wild, and work with the vet to get the animal taken
there. If it's a pet, the severity of the injuries will determine
whether it's more humane to operate or euthanize -- work with the vet
to decide what to do.
- At the pound: Many
animal control facilities are severely resource-constrained and may
automatically euthanize animals that are seriously injured or even if
they are healthy after a short claiming period. Some will not pick up
stray or injured animals and may not even accept some animals. Stay
calm, and give them the benefit of the doubt. Work with them, or find
another place to take the animal.
This final advice from the SPCA is also helpful:
If
you're uncertain about whether or not
to assist or keep an animal you see alongside the highway, think of what you would want the finder of
your pet to do if he happened to find him injured and his collar
missing. You'd want him to take your pet to a veterinarian, and you'd
want him to try to find you. At the same time, be reasonable about how
much you can afford to do for that animal if no owner shows up. Are you
willing to add him to your household? And will you be willing to return
him to his original home if the owner turns up after you've started to
form an attachment?
It's likely that at some point you're going to face such a situation. It's helpful to know in advance what you will do. Think it through now. When it happens you're not going to have time.
Postscript: Two important facts about saving injured birds:
- Do not feed an
injured bird food or water. If the bird is in trauma, food can
aggravate the trauma and cause death, and water can block air passages.
Only provide food when the bird has recovered (has been alert at least
1/2 hour); then berries, grape halves and watermelon pieces are best,
providing fluids and sugar. Call the experts before trying to rehabilitate an injured bird.
- It is a myth that
a parent will not reclaim a baby bird touched by human hands. If the
parents haven't arrived in an hour, and you can't find the nest, drop a
towel over the bird, and put it in a cardboard box in a warm, dry, dark
place away from predators until it recovers. Then if it's not healthy
or mature enough to let go, call the experts.
Image: Harvest mice, now an endangered species, photo by Stephen Dalton from Secret Worlds.
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MADE IN CANADA
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