2nd Chance Wildlife Care Center
"I've found a wild animal that needs help! What should I do?"
Finding a wild animal in need of help can sometimes be pretty overwhelming. There are a million questions that go through your mind all at once, your emotions can get pretty strong in the moment, often the situation can be quite confusing as well, and sometimes trying to figure out the best way to get help for the animal can be very stressful. Below are some recommended steps to take, good tips for dealing with different scenarios and types of wild animals, who to call and answers to some of the most common questions that people have in these situations, as well as some "Do's & Don'ts" of each step of the rescue process, along with some helpful links where you can find more in depth and detailed information to help you safely and successfully rescue a wild animal in need of help and get it the best care it needs.
Any time you encounter a wild animal, whether it needs help or not, please ALWAYS try to keep pets and people, especially children, away from the animal... This is VERY IMPORTANT for the animal's sake.
Before you try to capture the animal:
Please take the following steps before attempting to rescue a wild animal that you believe is in need of help. These steps will help insure better safety for both you and the animal alike, as well as help to avoid some of the common mishaps that often happen when a person is not experienced at capturing wild animals.
Step #1: Remain calm!
Do your best to stay as calm as possible whenever you are near a wild animal; even if the animal is not hurt. Animals sense and feel what you are feeling, so if you are freaking out the animal will get even more freaked out.
Step #2: Contact someone with experience
It is not uncommon for people who don't know any better to think an animal needs help when in fact it is just fine and not doing anything unusual. However, due to the unfamiliarity that the general public has with many of the behaviors of wild animals, especially in contrast to the domesticated animals that most people are used to, these mistakes happen sometimes. Some species often appear to be hurt when they are in fact doing nothing out of the ordinary, so if possible, it is best to contact someone who is experienced and more knowledgeable when it comes to whether or not an animal is actually in need of rescue before you attempt to interact and /or capture a wild animal. Also, some animals are not able to be kept captive when injured unless the facility that treats it is properly set up, equipped, and licensed to take a particular type/species of animal. So it is a good idea to check with your local wildlife rehab center to make sure that they can take the animal and give it the care it needs before attempting to rescue it. As well as verifying that the animal does in fact need help.
Step #3: Get something to put the animal in
If you have a plastic cat or dog carrier available, that would be the best option. But, since most people do not travel around with an empty animal crate on their person when going about their daily routine, there are other options that might be easier to access at the time. Any of the following is usually a good enough substitute for an animal crate:
* a cardboard box (you will need to poke at least 2 small holes in opposite sides of the box for air, and you will need to drape something over the top of the box once the animal is inside and the box is shut to prevent the animal from trying to escape. You can drape a jacket, towel, t-shirt, or any other kind of cloth material over the top of box; even a pair of shorts will work if that's all that is available.
Step #4: Get something to catch the animal with
Pretty much just about anything cloth (towel, shirt, jacket, pillow case, blanket, etc.) will work fine to catch the animal with. The cloth should be big enough to completely cover the head and at least half of the body of the animal. If you are waiting for a wildlife rescuer to arrive to capture the animal, it is very helpful if you can put something over the animal (a cardboard box, empty trash can or recycle bin placed upside-down over the animal, etc.) until the rescuer arrives and is ready to capture the animal. If you are capturing the animal yourself, and you are able to place something over the animal first, then you should definitely do that before all of the steps above. This will make the capture of the animal much easier for whoever ends up being the one to actually catch the animal and put it in something to transport the animal in. Also, if the animal does not actually need help, it will be just about impossible to put anything over the top of the animal.
How to safely capture a wild animal in need of help:
Interacting with a wild animal can be dangerous to both humans and animals alike, especially if the human has not had any training or experience with handling wildlife; and even if someone has had training it is still dangerous, although the risk of injury is drastically reduced with the more knowledge and experience a person has. And just as no two animals are exactly the same, so are no two rescues exactly the same either. It is important to have a basic plan for how to get close enough to the animal and catch it without causing unnecessary extra injury or stress to the animal and/or to yourself. There are a few things to consider before making your move (be aware that you probably won't have a very good second chance to catch the animal and that you should put maximum effort into your first try to avoid additional stress to the animal) , so make sure you consider the following things before committing to your plan of capture:
* the ground terrain around the animal and especially the area and distance between you and the animal;
* your own physical wellness and capabilities (i.e. if you have a bad knee or bad ankles, or are prone to clumsiness you should exercise extra caution if there is uneven ground with tree roots or large rocks sticking up out of the ground or the ground is slippery)
* the animal's immediate surroundings can be sometimes used as an advantage to you or a disadvantage to both you and the animal and may potentially put the animal in greater danger if the animal attempts to avoid capture and ends up going in the direction of greater danger;
* how many people are nearby who are willing to help you capture the animal? Most of the time, the more people who can help block the animal from trying to avoid being captured the better, the difficult issues in these situations are usually having people capable of listening and following instructions, and/or not panicking, and/or not trying to take over and run the show without having any idea what they are doing and being unaware of the animal's stress level;
* there are endless scenarios and possibilities in these situations, so I included a section of the most common ones and best ways to handle them HERE if you feel you need additional advice before attempting your rescue.
Make sure to cover the animal's face with the cloth and keep it covered
This is the most important thing to do while handling a wild animal because it makes the animal twice as easy to handle if the animal cannot see you and it's surroundings, and the cloth also puts a barrier between you and the animals mouth.
Do NOT try to sneak up on the animal... EVER! Just ambush it as quickly as possible
Sneaking up on a wild animal is pretty much impossible to do without the animal knowing you are trying to sneak up on it, and the animal will perceive your attempt at sneaking up on it as though you are stalking it and it's instincts will override just about any and all pain it may have and the animal will flee for it's life. Animals live their entire lives avoiding predators and their senses are far more intense than the human senses are, and their instincts are far more fine tuned than that of humans.
The other issue is that humans are very slow compared to animals that have twice as many legs to run with or wings to fly with.
The odds of an animal not hearing you, smelling you, and/or seeing you trying to sneak up on it are pretty close to zero; so don't bother trying because you will most likely just ruin your chance to catch the animal and stress it out which will make everything worse for the animal. Another thing about humans, is we are VERY SLOW compared to the majority of the animals on this planet, so we must use any tricks we can if we want any chance of catching a wild animal. After catching all kinds of wildlife over the past 25+ years, I have found the most successful method (more often than not) is to just rush the animal (from two sides if you have someone else there to help you) and do your best not to give the animal much time to react, or if you are by yourself and you do not have anyone to help you, then calmly walk around the general area and do NOT look directly at the animal while doing this, just calmly and quietly stroll around nearby the animal and let it get used to seeing you moving around but ignoring it and the animal will become less concerned about you being there especially if you pass by the animal a couple of times without stopping or looking directly at the animal. Then when you are passing by it for the 3rd or 4th time, that is when you make your move, and do it without any hesitation.
Just run at the animal and ambush it as quickly as possible once you have committed and take action. Do not allow the animal to react if possible. As long as you are making it obvious that you are not trying to stalk the animal it will not be waiting for you to try to chase it. The element of surprise is usually on your side in these situations. So be ready to throw the cloth over the animal's eyes as soon as you can reach it and then hold the animal down so you can then get the cloth situated better so that you can keep the animal's face and head covered and hopefully keep it's body in the cloth too while you pick it up and put it whatever you are going to transport the animal in. You may even want to wad the cloth up in your hand in case you need to throw it at the animal's head. This will not hurt them, but it will help hinder their escape and give you an extra half of a second to try to capture the animal. When it comes to these kinds of situations, a half of a second is a huge amount of time.