How much should we really intervene when it comes to saving wildlife?
People are rescuing injured squirrels with CPR and uploading their heroic missions online: when a squirrel got struck by a nearby powerline, a video shows an unidentified man in Colombia giving it CPR until it began to revive, and finally run off. Meanwhile, in the U.S., a student at Central Michigan University rescued a gray squirrel drowning in a campus pond.
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CPR does work for many animals, including humans, dogs and squirrels. Squeeze the heart long enough will get blood moving, and keep oxygen flowing to the lungs. But while humans are shaped similarly, dogs, cats and other animals can have a lot of variability in the way their chests are shaped.
If you do plan on attempting to rescue a wild animal, Daniel J. Fletcher, associate professor of emergency and critical care at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine recommends applying pressure from the side rather than straight to breastbone. Oh, and if you are planning to rescue a pet dog or cat, he still recommends mouth-to-snout resuscitation (there are no official guidelines for squirrels).
“It’s always heartwarming to see people care so much about wildlife and be willing to step in to help them when they’re injured,” David Mizejewski, a naturalist at the National Wildlife Federation told National Geographic. But “it’s very easy to further injure or kill an animal that you are trying to help, and wild animals won’t necessarily know you’re trying to help them and can inflict dangerous bites or scratches to their would-be savior.”
“Only intervene if you feel you absolutely must,” Mizejewski advises. Your best bet is still to find an expert or animal rescue. But for Natalie Belsito, the Central Michigan University student, the squirrel rescue was a moment of a triumph. After squeezing the squirrel’s chest until it began to cough up water, drying it with a hairdryer and cradling on top of bags of warm water to raise its temperature, she released the animal back in the wild, where it scampered up a tree. “Brought a squirrel back from the dead, what was your Wednesday like?” Belsito tweeted.
People are rescuing injured squirrels with CPR and uploading their heroic missions online: when a squirrel got struck by a nearby powerline, a video shows an unidentified man in Colombia giving it CPR until it began to revive, and finally run off. Meanwhile, in the U.S., a student at Central Michigan University rescued a gray squirrel drowning in a campus pond.
If you do plan on attempting to rescue a wild animal, Daniel J. Fletcher, associate professor of emergency and critical care at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine recommends applying pressure from the side rather than straight to breastbone. Oh, and if you are planning to rescue a pet dog or cat, he still recommends mouth-to-snout resuscitation (there are no official guidelines for squirrels).
