Thursday 20/11/14
Summer is here and our native animals are definitely on the move. Accidents happen, especially in cars. If you are involved in an accident with one of our native animals, this week's blog will give you a little guidance about what to do and hopefully keep you safe while doing it.
If you hit a native animal, or find an injured native animal, don't just drive off. That animal needs your help. Too many animals suffer a long and painful death because people are either scared; or just don't know what to do. First and foremost, DON'T PANIC. The outcome of this situation relies on you keeping a level head.
Your first priority is to find somewhere safe to park.
- YOUR safety is paramount. Don't go running across the road into oncoming traffic, no animal is worth your life.
- Check both ways before crossing the road (a little elementary, but people can be careless when they panic). Remember, you're there to help the animal, not become a road statistic yourself.
- Is the animal actually injured, or just stunned?
- If you ascertain that the animal is injured, use a blanket or a towel to cover the animal's head. Don't worry about suffocating the animal, if you can breathe through it they can too. Covering the head keeps the animal calm and makes sure they can't see where you are to bite you. The animal isn't being nasty. Under normal circumstances they aren't used to being handled by people and these aren't normal circumstances. This animal is now injured, scared, in pain, and being picked up by a bigger animal (namely, you).
- If the animal is bleeding or seriously injured, use compression to stop bleeding. Yep, this is one of those occasions where you get to use your First Aid training. Hopefully, you'll have someone else with you, so you can keep pressure on the wound while your friend drives you to the nearest vet ASAP. So far, no vet has charged me a fee for dropping off an injured native animal at their surgery (and no, I haven't run any over, I go out on rescues).
- If the animal is not bleeding but is injured, ring your local native animal rescue.
- It is important to keep them dark and warm to help prevent them from going into shock.
- DO NOT FEED THEM! Only give them water if they are visibly distressed.
Hopefully I've given you something to think about and the knowledge to provide help if it's needed. Below, I've provided a few links to Australian animal welfare organisations. I can't list them all, so I encourage you to look up the contact details of similar organisations in your own area and familiarise yourself with their advice.
http://www.ifaw.org/australia/frontpage