‘This animal is suffering’: Help comes slow for wildlife hurt on roads | Opinion
It’s dark out, and deer are on the move. Unfortunately, that means more collisions with deer happen this time of year. And while your car can take serious damage from a deer, the animal is usually going to be worse off.
But what should you do if a deer is injured but not dead?
The short answer is to call the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. That’s the agency tasked with responding to injured roadside animals. Don’t try to render aid, and don’t try to put the animal down yourself. If the animal is disrupting traffic or putting people in danger, call 911.
The long answer is that authorities might not solve the problem as quickly as you’d like. Drivers who wound a deer in a collision, or come across a wounded deer in another scenario, might not see the animal get help unless they want to stick around for a long time.
That was my takeaway after looking into an experience a tipster told The News Tribune about in an email earlier this month. The tipster, Kathie Lindsey, said she came upon a car on the side of the road in the pre-dawn hours on a recent weekday. The car’s driver had seen a deer with an injured back leg on the side of the road, and was sitting watch.
The deer didn’t seem near death, but its back leg was “useless,” she said. Both Lindsey and the other driver, who didn’t know each other, feared it would lurch into traffic. The other driver had already reported the incident to Fish and Wildlife.
Lindsey took over the watch of the deer, which she said tried to stand but ended up face down in a puddle. To her distress, no one came for two hours. After calling Fish and Wildlife and the local police multiple times, she said, she eventually gave up and left the deer.
That didn’t sit right with Lindsey, who said she was angered by the situation.
“This animal is suffering,” she wrote. “I was looking for someone to come not only to take care of the deer in a humane fashion, but to be sure that an accident was not caused by the deer suddenly doing a nose dive into oncoming traffic.”
Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Bridget Mire confirmed the agency received a report of an injured deer in Puyallup that day. Personnel found and euthanized the animal, which was a yearling buck.
Fish and Wildlife asks people to report any deer they see unable to get up for 24 hours. Mire said the agency weighs factors like whether an animal is aggressive or impeding a roadway when responding sooner. The agency urges people to call 911 in an emergency, and asks motorists to avoid parking or standing on the side of the road.
“We understand that witnessing injured wildlife can be distressing, and we thank the reporting party for contacting us for help,” Mire said.
It’s hard to judge how quickly an agency should respond to a suffering wild animal. I can see how a long wait puts drivers in a challenging situation. Lindsey said her biggest fear was that the deer would cause an accident that would injure or frighten a family going to school. She was relieved to hear that the deer was ultimately put down.
And again, you can’t take things into your own hands. Only Fish and Wildlife personnel, law enforcement officers or people they’ve authorized may euthanize an injured deer.
You must get a roadkill salvage permit if you want to take a deer’s carcass after it’s been euthanized, and there are strict regulations on which species of deer you can take and where in the state you can take them. In some parts of Washington, you’d be required to get a roadkill deer carcass tested for chronic wasting disease.
And if you were hoping that the deer would receive medical attention, that’s unfortunately not a solution. Wildlife rehabilitation centers in Washington generally don’t take injured deer or elk, so calling Fish and Wildlife (and potentially 911) really is your best option in this situation.
Hopefully, it’s a situation you never find yourself in. But if you do, be prepared to wait.
