Our practice offers a veterinary service for injured wildlife. We work closely with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) to help triage and treat injured wildlife that are brought to us by their inspectors. Wildlife casualtiesWe also treat wildlife casualties that have been found by members of the public, however we would like to highlight the SSPCA’s advice:If you discover injured wildlife and can safely contain the animal, please transport the animal to your nearest veterinary practice, or ask someone you know to take you if you do not have transport. If you are unable to contain the animal, please call the SSPCA on 03000 999 999. For more information see the SSPCA website page. Please consider your personal safety when trying to help injured wildlife. Scared and injured wildlife can act aggressively and can bite, scratch, peck and kick. Bats should not be handled by individuals who have not been vaccinated for rabies.If you bring a wildlife casualty to our practice, we ask that you complete our wildlife emergency submission form (link for this form) at the time of patient admission.As wildlife can pose a risk to both human and animal health, playing host to many infectious diseases, we house most wildlife species in individual pods in our isolation facilities to ensure the safety of them and our other patients. What happens to a wildlife casualty?There are three possible outcomes for wildlife that come under our care:Prompt release back to the wildThis is the ideal outcome, and what we always aim to achieve. Where possible, if the problem is able to be resolved with a short hospital stay for treatment and supportive care, then we will aim to return the animal back to a suitable location near to the original site where it was found.Transfer to our local SSPCA Rehabilitation Centre Where the wildlife patient needs a longer period of treatment, once stable, we will transfer them to the care of the veterinary surgeon at our local SSPCA rehabilitation centre. For young animals, these will often join a group of similar aged orphaned juveniles, to learn play, feeding, social interactions and, where appropriate, a group release back to the wild.Euthanasia on welfare grounds Sadly, some of the wildlife casualties that present to us are at an end-of-life stage. In these cases, we are in the privileged position of being able to end suffering, in a humane and pain-free manner.Related contentContact usFind us A swan being x-rayed to check for the presence of a fishing hook and a young Mute Swan exercising in our Wildlife Ward Pond. This article was published on 2024-09-02
