Wild animals face numerous challenges in their natural habitats, often sustaining injuries due to various environmental and biological factors. Understanding how to identify and treat these injuries is crucial for conservationists, wildlife rehabilitators, and even concerned citizens. This article explores different types of injuries, their causes, effects, and how to properly intervene while adhering to wildlife protection laws.
Identifying Common Injuries in Wild Animals
Wild animals can suffer from a range of injuries, many of which significantly impact their survival. Some of the most common types of injuries include:
- Physical Injuries: These may be external wounds caused by sharp objects, predator attacks, or conflicts with other animals.
- Severe Injuries: Major fractures, missing limbs, and punctured eyes can drastically reduce an animal’s ability to survive.
- Chronic Pain: Long-term injuries that do not heal properly can lead to chronic pain, affecting movement and feeding.
- Fractures and Crushing Injuries: Broken bones or severe trauma can be fatal if not treated quickly.
- Wing Tears in Birds: Birds such as raptors, songbirds, and waterfowl often suffer from wing tears due to collisions or predator attacks.
- Eye Injuries: Punctured eyes from fights, accidents, or infections can impair an animal’s ability to detect threats.
- Frostbite and Sunburn: Extreme cold and heat can cause tissue damage, particularly in animals like deer fawns, seals, and amphibians.
- Parasite Infestations: Internal and external parasites can cause severe distress, leading to malnutrition and disease.
- Molting Mishaps: Some animals, like crickets, may suffer injuries during molting, sometimes leading to suffocation or self-amputation.
Common Causes of Wildlife Injuries
Understanding what leads to injuries can help in taking preventive measures. Some of the major causes include:
- Conflict with Other Animals: Intraspecific conflicts, predation, and competition for food or territory.
- Accidents and Falls: Hedgehogs, squirrels, and bats may fall from trees or cliffs, sustaining injuries.
- Collisions: Birds and bats often collide with buildings, windows, and vehicles.
- Severe Weather and Natural Disasters: Storms, fire, hailstorms, extreme heat, drought, and extreme cold can cause hypothermia, burns, and starvation.
- Molting Issues: Some insects, such as mayflies and dragonflies, face molting-related suffocation or injury.
Effects of Injuries on Wildlife
Injured wild animals often experience serious consequences, such as:
- Impaired Movement: Hindering their ability to escape predators or find food.
- Increased Vulnerability to Predators: A weak animal is an easy target.
- Infections and Diseases: Open wounds can become infected, leading to fatal conditions.
- Social Isolation: Some animals, like deer or elephants, may be rejected by their groups.
- Starvation: Difficulty in hunting or foraging leads to malnutrition.
- Difficulty in Regeneration: Certain animals, like crickets or salamanders, may struggle to regrow lost limbs.
When to Intervene and How to Treat Injured Wild Animals
Intervening should always be done with caution, as improper handling can do more harm than good. Here are some key guidelines:
1. Assess the Situation
- Observe from a distance to determine if the animal truly needs help.
- Signs like excessive bleeding, difficulty moving, visible fractures, or unconsciousness indicate an emergency.
- If the animal is a young wildlife species like a deer fawn, fledgling bird, or turtle hatchling, avoid interference unless it is exposed to immediate danger.
2. Contact a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator
- Wild animals are protected by law, and it is illegal to keep them as pets.
- If you find an injured coyote, bobcat, fisher, river otter, beaver, or bat, call a professional wildlife rehabilitator immediately.
- In Massachusetts, protected species fall under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, and special permits are needed for handling them.
3. Providing Immediate First Aid (If Necessary)
- Handling Precautions: Wear thick gloves, especially when dealing with bats, raptors, or venomous snakes.
- Stopping Bleeding: Apply a clean cloth with gentle pressure on wounds.
- Stabilizing Fractures: Do not attempt to set a broken bone; keep the animal calm until professional help arrives.
- Rehydration: Dehydrated animals (e.g., birds or amphibians) can be given small amounts of water with a dropper.
4. Transporting the Injured Animal
- Use a ventilated box with a soft cloth to keep the animal comfortable.
- Keep it in a quiet, dark place to reduce stress.
- Avoid excessive handling to prevent further injury or panic.
Specific Cases of Wildlife Injuries
Birds
- If you find a baby bird (hatchling, nestling, or fledgling), try to return it to its nest unless it is clearly injured.
- Migratory birds and raptors require specialized care and should be taken to a bird rehabilitator.
Deer Fawns
- If found motionless, do not assume they are abandoned. Does visit their fawns only a few times a day.
- If a fawn is in immediate danger (e.g., near a road), carefully move it to a safe, covered location within 200 yards.
Turtles
- If you find a turtle in the road, move it in the direction it was traveling.
- For minor injuries, leave it in its natural habitat. For severe shell fractures, contact a wildlife veterinarian.
Bats
- If found grounded and unable to fly, use a towel to gently pick it up and place it in a secure container.
- In winter, bats cannot be released outdoors. Contact a wildlife rehabilitator.
Conclusion
Identifying and treating injuries in wild animals requires careful observation and appropriate intervention. Many injuries result from conflicts, environmental hazards, or accidents, impacting the animal’s ability to survive. When encountering an injured wild animal, the best course of action is to assess the situation, avoid unnecessary interference, and contact professional wildlife rehabilitators. By understanding common injuries and their causes, we can better protect wildlife and support their recovery in their natural habitats.