Have you ever seen an injured , distressed or deceased animal, on the road, or out an about? Have you ever wondered what to do or whether to just ignore the suffering and pass it off as its just part of nature? I for one have come across this type of situation one too many times, and I have taken the liberty of looking into what are the correct steps to take when you come across a situation like this. The following article takes you through a journey of conservation education filled with examples and helpful videos so that you no longer have to guess whats the best thing to do.
Driving your car, or traveling on roads is for the majority of people a daily ritual. On your journey through perhaps suburbia or rural landscapes there is often a familiar sign that animals haven't faired to well crossing the roads we journey on. Usually laying to the side of the roads' shoulder, or sadly flattened not to far off the white lines, an unlucky animal lies dead, second best to a vehicle. If you have had the unfortunate fate of colliding with a skittish animal who has made a poor choice of judgement it can be a sad, somber and expensive moment to deal with (considering the now damage made to your car). A poor injured or dead native animal and a worse for where car or truck, and you're left wondering what should you do?
Step 1 - Safety First - Be Composed
First things first: safely park your vehicle to the side of the road, out of the main traffics' path. You must ensure the safety of yourself before you consider try to do anything in harms way for an animal. Indicate off the road and park with vehicle hazard lights on. If you have had a collision with an animal, take a moment to relax and compose yourself, so that you can make logical and rational decisions. In crash situations the hormone adrenaline can get the best of anyone and cause panic. If you aren't in a composed state of mind you can put yourself in a scenario that could potentially be harmful.
Step 2 - Assess
Assess your environment for potential hazards. These could be shattered glass on the ground, or large on coming vehicles/ heavy traffic, fire, or perhaps debris from your vehicle or surrounding your location.
Step 3 - Locate Animal
Once you have determined the safety of the environment it is time to locate the animal that is Injured, distressed or deceased. Not as easy said, as it is done. In some collision cases with larger, heavier animals such as: Kangaroos, Wallabies, Dingos, Emus, Wombats, the animal will try and keep moving off the road, if it wasn't instantly killed on impact. The animal may crawl off the road severely struggling, and may have gone a different direction than you thought. Or it may not want to move from the centre of the road and become a traffic hazard. Once you have eyes on the animal it is important to take Step 4.
Step 4 - Call
Call your local conservation wildlife rescue team. For example if you saw a whale caught in a shark net, you would report it to Sea World Wild Life Rescue or something similar. If your local area is located in Brisbane, it is worth finding the number to a local wildlife rescue group. These professionals will listen to your situation and will advise you best on how you should proceed. If they can do anything about it, they will come out and meet you at the given accident location. Some animals such as wallabies and kangaroos, are not easy to move around and could cause you harm. Other animals like Snakes pose an immediate threat/risk and should be only handled by professionals.
Step 5 - Action
Check if the animal is dead or alive. Marsupials have pouches which sometimes can contain a small baby animal with in. The mother could be deceased but the pouch provides shelter and safety for the baby to then survive a day or two. If there is a baby, place it in a small cloth and inside a box to keep the animal calm and warm.
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Marsupials include:
Kangaroos, Wallabies, Wombats, Possums, Echidna, Bandicoots, Golden Mole, and rodents.
This makes up the majority of animal car collisions, the others are birds and reptiles which don't have pouches. If the Animal is simply injured, do not try to look in its pouch because it could act aggressively towards you. Place the animal in a blanket or towel, and transport it to the nearest wild life rescue facility. If it is a bird make sure you wrap a blanket or towel around its wings before putting it into a box and then transporting it.
If it is a reptile, place the lizard/ turtle/ frog into a cardboard box and transfer the animal to the nearest wild life rescue facility. Snakes should not be handled because of the difficulty in deciphering whether it is a non venomous or venomous snake.
For those who have had training with snakes, its best to decipher whether the snake is a python or a non constricting snake species. Australian pythons do bite, and it can be harmful but it is not venomous and will require a tetanus shot afterwards. A long stick or poll should be used to lift the snakes body while you hold its tail, when moving a snake into a bin like container which has a securable lid.
For venomous snakes in a rural area that has no wildlife support or rescue call outs her is a program that teaches the handling of venomous snakes and how serious it can be.
Step 6 - Slow Down Be Aware
Crucially to avoid accidents with wildlife slow down, give yourself time to react to an on coming animal and reduce the size of the impact. Be aware that some locations have larger animal densities than others, focus on looking on the edges of the road for wildlife, stop looking at your phone while you drive, an you could save an animals life and also yours.
If a baby bird falls from its nest here is how you put it right back with its parents.
Thanks again for reading.
