Your answer
This animal needs a rehabilitator today.
Visible injury, a vehicle strike, or contact with a cat or dog all put the animal past the point where waiting helps. A cat-caught animal in particular needs antibiotics within a few hours, whether or not you can see a puncture, because the bacteria in a cat’s mouth are what kill it rather than the wound.
What to do right now
- 01Put on gloves. Never handle a bat, raccoon, fox, skunk, or coyote with bare hands.
- 02Line a ventilated box with a towel, ease the animal in without wrapping it tightly, and close the lid.
- 03Keep it warm, dark, and completely quiet. No radio, no children, no checking on it.
- 04Call the nearest rehabilitator that accepts the species before you drive anywhere.
- 05Note exactly where you found it. Release depends on that location.
What not to do
- Do not give food, water, or medication of any kind.
- Do not clean wounds, apply ointment, or pull out embedded material.
- Do not keep it overnight to see if it improves.
- Do not transport it loose in a car.
Change your mind if any of this is true
Any one of these changes the answer above. Call a rehabilitator instead.
- If the animal is a bat, or bit or scratched anyone, treat it as a rabies exposure and see a doctor today. That is about the person, and it does not wait.
- A large mammal on a road is a danger to you and to drivers. Do not approach it. Get somewhere safe, then call a rehabilitator — a deer or a coyote is not something to handle at the roadside whoever you are.
Get professional help
Tell us where you are — your state, then your county — and we will list the people licensed to take it there, nearest to you first. Rehabilitators are licensed by their own state, which is why we ask.
Understand the animal
Knowing why this happens is what makes the next one easier to read.