Wildlife Capture, Triage and First Aid

What are the six stages of wildlife rehabilitation?

1. Initial location, capture and translocation

2. Examination and assessment for rehabilitation

3. First aid and stabilisation

4. Treatment

5. Recuperation and rehabilitation

6. Release

What exactly is wildlife rehabilitation?

The temporary care of injured, diseased and displaced indigenous animals and the subsequent release of healthy animals to appropriate habitat in the wild

In the UK there are over ___ centers, treating an estimated ______ casualties a year.

700, 40,000

• Estimated less than half are subsequently released

What is the notion of primum non nocere?

RCVS Guide to Professional code of conduct

a veterinary surgeon must:

Treat all patients, of whatever species, humanely, with respect and with welfare as the primary consideration. Provide 24 hour emergency care, which means at least immediate first aid and pain relief. 

Welfare of individual vs. welfare of population

Aitions in the interest of an individual animal should not unnaturally jeopardise healthy

Why does wildlife rehabilitation necessitate rapid assessment?

Rapid decision-making

• Animal welfare - what is the best welfare for the injured animals

• Health and safety

• Legislation

What does Triage mean?

From the French Trier = "to sort, sift, select"

Prioritisation of patients based on severity of condition to treat as many as possible when resources are not available to treat all immediately

Describe the outcome based approach to wildlife casualty triage.

• Always considering euthanasia - based on whether it is the right thing to release that animal, can it cope based on its injuries, or do costs to rehabilitate the animal outweigh the result

What exactly does wildlife rehabilitation aim to achieve?

• The prime aim must always be to return an animal successfully to the wild.

• To do this the animal must be released with a chance of survival equivalent to that of other free-living members of its species.

• The alternatives are:

• Permanent captivity (acceptable animal welfare?)

or

• Euthanasia (consider at every stage)

Describe the “1. Initial location, capture and translocation” step of wildlife rehabilitation. 

Location

Found by member of the public

Taken to the vet or wildlife centre

• Important to record the location in order to be able to release the animal in the same place

• Decide if to release, capture, await for help

Capture and safe restraint

By member of the public, wildlife assistant, vet

Information given by wildlife centre; general practice also should have a minimum knowledge

• Depends on the species

• Restrain the animal without causing injuries to the animal and the handler

Restraint / capture

• Advice to members of the public:

• Adequate restraint of the animal - box or pet carrier, never loose in the car or carried in the hand!

• Carriers should have a non-slip surface (towel, matting, cloth)

• Covered so that the animal is kept in the dark.

• Equipment: nets, dog catcher, board, blanket, box/ carrier

In what instances would you not want to advise a member of the public to be involved in restraint or capture?

Larger, potentially dangerous animals, such as deer, seals, badgers, foxes, seabirds and swans should ideally be captured and transported only by properly trained animal personnel, such as RSPCA, SSPCA inspectors

What equipment should be used for capture/restraint of wildlife?

Species dependent - with specific guidelines for each animal

• Equipment:

• PPE

• Gloves/towels

• Nets

• Padded rims

• Suitable material

• Graspers / Dog catcher

• Board

• Thick Blanket

• Suitable sized Container

Capture / Restraint

• Equipment for containment

• Boxes/pet carriers

• Ventilated

• Towel on floor

• Swan wraps

• Seal stretchers

• Crush cages

• Environment

• Specialised equipment e.g. ladders/boats

• Safety

What are the important factors for transportation of wildlife?

Equipment needed - ventilated container, non-slip surface

Non-slip surface - towel, blanket, cloth or mat.

• Waterfowl and seabirds - do not contaminate or disrupt feathers, affects waterproofing

  • Cover head to reduce stress

• Seals - may overheat on land, though underweight may need more layers

• Equipment:

Non-slip surface Ventilated container, Swan bag

• Transport

  • Restraint

  • Ventilation /temperature

  • Distance

• Deer: sedated

• Marine mammals: do not move

• Taken to Vet clinic, Wildlife hospital.

How should wildlife - specifically birds be handled?

•Use subdued lighting, cover head, minimise time, do not entirely cup the bird as this will impede breathing

• Dyspnoea - pre-oxygenate

• Care not to restrain the sternum (No diaphragm, makes breathing difficult)

• Small birds - use cloth or tea towel.

• Larger birds (e.g. birds of prey) - use leather gloves, towels or cloths. (care beak / talons).

  • Hood may help.

How should large birds like swans and seabirds be handled?

Swans - velcro swan bag, hessian sac, IKEA bag to transport, or wrapped in large blanket. (Beware of wings, very powerful). “Bag pipe hold” - want to restrain the head

Seabirds - Extreme care needed. Hold away from face, often have very sharp beaks. Wear goggle or safety glasses. Beware of beak and claws, ensure bird can still breath. Internal nares

In terms of rehabilitation, how should larger mammals be handled?

Larger mammals - netted, caught using a dog catcher, boarded into a carrier basket or restrained using a large blanket, over head to help them calm down.

• May require sedation or GA for handling and examination of some species (e.g. deer, badger, fox).

In terms of rehabilitation, how should smaller mammals be handled?

Small mammals - easier to handle, cloth over the eyes (rabbits).

Bats - always handle with gloves (Bat rabies, European bat lyssaviruses, EBLV) and only by vaccinated personnel. Want to get post-exposure rabies vaccination if bit as well.

• APHA Rabies Diagnostic Unit analyses UK bat carcasses for rabies infection

Hedgehogs - gently stroke spines, able to stretch them out

What are the dangers when it comes to handling of wildlife?

• Birds:

beak

talons

wings

• Mammals:

teeth

antlers

claws

hooves

What are the common risks - in terms of zoonotic diseases from wildlife?

Bats and rabies (EBLV 1 and 2)

Foxes - mange caused by Sarcoptes scabiei

Badgers and TB

Hedgehogs - Salmonella and Trichophyton (Ringworm)

HP Avian influenza - current concern

Seal pox and seal finger (mycoplasma)

What other disease risk do wildlife pose to each other?

• Besides disease, what other risks do they pose to humans?

• Physical injury to staff (e.g. herons, cranes, seabirds - wear goggles)

• Disease transmission to other animals

How are risks presented by wild animals mitigated by practices which regularly handle wild animals?

Practices regularly handling wild animals should have risk assessments and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place for all personnel, which are reviewed regularly.reviewed regularly.

When a wild animal is encountered, what are the first steps to take?

First, noting that most wildlife casualties are emergencies, then take:

• Quick assessment

• Obtain history

• Observation at a distance

• Decision to treat or euthanase

If you notice a bird which is very ill looking, what judgement can you make about this initial assessment?

• Birds hide signs of ill health until disease is advanced

• Adaptation in response to threat of predation

• 'Any sick bird is 70% dead'!!!

• Signs may be non-specific - weak, fluffed up bird, sleeping lots

• May need to provide oxygen, handle very minimally as that stress alone can be fatal

After assessment, what should your initial action be for birds and wildlife?

• Minimal restraint

• Place in incubator (25 - 30°C birds, 21°C mammals)

• Provide oxygen

• Cover or leave in darkened room

• Quiet environment, reduces stress

What observations can you make by observing wildlife from a distance when assessing their condition?

• Close observation can pick up subtle signs

• Observe bird at a distance

• Breathing difficulties, gait abnormalities and lameness, fluffed up feathers, poor feather quality, sleeping despite engaging environment

• Observe appearance/amount of droppings

• Record what has been eaten/ drunk once hospitalised

When performing the actual clinical examination of wildlife species, how should the clinical exam be performed?

• Perform once rested

• As for other species - cranial to caudal

• Assessment of the oral cavity (for mucus membrane colour, presence of fishing hooks or lines, dentition).

• Thoracic auscultation (aspergillus, pulmonary haemorrhage).

• Body condition good indicator of health status. Pectoral muscle mass palpation (birds) or lumbar and rib palpation (mammals).

• Assessment of feather/ fur condition. Ectoparasites are common in debilitated animals. Traumatic fight wounds are common in badgers, subcutaneous abscesses are common in hedgehogs. •

Palpation of wings and legs for fractures, again common findings in debilitated wild animals following trauma (e.g. hedge strimmer injuries, RTAs etc). Fractures easily missed.

What can wing position in birds tell you about a bird’s injury?

• Shoulder injury - wing tip skewed upwards

• Humerus/ radius/ulna injury wing held out from body and slightly dropped

• Carpus distally - tip of wing dropped. May drag on ground

How do avian fractures heal?

• What may make these injuries have a poor prognosis?

• Avian bone heals very quickly (Around 21 days)

• Poor prognosis if:

• Close to a joint

• Open fracture

• Compound fracture

• Chronic injury - often necrotic at times because bird has been injured for a long time

• Species important - how does this animal feed, is it migratory, etc

• An individual which migrates or has very keen hunting ability would need a perfect fracture repair, meaning it may not be worth it to actually heal that bird

What factors would give a poor prognosis considering the rehabilitation of wildlife?

• Behavioural abnormalities, e.g. malprinting and habituation

• Damage to beak - prevents normal feeding, grooming and/or defence of itself or its territory

• Loss of hearing

• Blindness or loss of an eye, or vision in an eye, where essential in a predator (e.g. birds of prey)

• Loss of a limb (or wing) or permanent loss of function of a limb or wing

• Fracture of a limb or wing involving or very close to a joint

• Permanent feather damage or loss of waterproofing

• Emaciation - assess body condition

• High ectoparasite burden

What is one of the main determining factors as to whether an animal should be treated, or euthanized?

• It is essential that any animal, once released to the wild, is able to function normally in order to catch food and survive

Is euthanasia a welfare issue?

NO

NOT a welfare issue

Eliminates possibility of further suffering

Many find this upsetting and unacceptable and equate euthanasia with failure

Educational opportunity

What is euthanasia?

The killing of an animal with the minimum of physical and mental suffering

• Is a welfare option

How can euthanasia be performed in wildlife species?

• Injection aimed at a major internal organ with a good blood supply, e.g. liver, kidneys or heart

• Birds: Intravenous (medial tarsal vein, brachial vein) or intra-hepatic injection, GA first best

• Large mammals: Sedation + Intravenous inj, intracardiac inj

• Small mammals: sevoflurane and intracardiac injection

What should be the goals of initial therapy for wildlife?

• Minimise stress, very important to wildlife species especially as contact with humans is very stressful, due to “wild” life style

• Minimal handling and intervention

• Subdued light and noise

• Away from other animals

• Adults - maintain at thermoneutral temperature range (15-35°C, species dependent), or juveniles (28 - 30°C)

• Fluid therapy

• Trauma management

• Analgesia

• Nutritional Support

When performing trauma management of wildlife, how can soft tissue and orthopedic injuries be dealt with?

Soft tissue injuries Haemostasis, cleaning, dressings

Orthopaedic injuries - Immobilisation, support, figure of eight bandage in birds

• Need to consider that wound will need to be cared for after, will type of bandage work with the animal, or changing of it be possible for that animal?

How should limbs be bandaged in wildlife?

• Splint should be applied to include one joint above and one joint below the fracture

• Suspension in a sling possible

• Light weight materials used

• Foot bandages for bumblefoot or sciatic nerve injuries

How does one tell with birds, mammals and seals whether or not they are hydrated?

Mammals: as dogs/cats

Seals: tearing (Well hydrated seals = always tearing)

Birds: refill of basilic (ulnar) vein

Analgesia is a vital part of first aid, why?

Most wildlife will not exhibit overt signs of pain

Birds: Butorphanol 1-4 mg/kg IM, Meloxicam 0.5mg/kg sid PO, SC

Local - bupivicaine, lidocaine 1mg/kg

Mammals: as dogs/cats/rabbits

To improve young animal’s comfortability - specifically upon triage, what temperatures are appropriate for:

• Small Birds

• Birds of Prey and Waterfowl

• Mammals

• Juveniles

• Small birds - 25 - 30°C

• Birds of prey and waterfowl - 20 - 25°C

• Mammals - 21°C

• Juveniles - 28 - 30°C