Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Eastern Gartersnake

Photos / Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

This Snake had a Slim Chance of Recovery

This Eastern Gartersnake is one of over 90 cat attacked patients that have come to us in the past month and our second cat attacked gartersnake in a week. Luckily, it has recovered well from multiple punctures and was recently released!

Cat attack victims make up approximately 20% of our patients in the spring. On average, across multiple wildlife hospitals, less than 25% of cat attacked patients survive which is why we are so glad this gartersnake recovered.

Though the majority of these cat-attacked patients are songbirds and infant cottontails, we get in multiple snakes, lizards, and frogs each year. There are an estimated 258-822 million reptiles, 1.3-4 billion birds, and 6.3-22.3 billion mammals killed by outdoor cats each year in the U.S.

Cat attack victims make up approximately 20% of our patients in the spring.

Cats are domestic animals and we are responsible for providing them with appropriate care. This is especially true of owned cats. If you have a pet cat, please keep it safe by keeping it indoors and providing it with safe outdoor time in a catio or on a leash, as seen here, with this wonderful kitty, Neo! (Thanks to Neo’s owners, who allowed us permission to post his photo here!).

Cats are hunters and are only doing what comes naturally to them. However, they are non-native domestic animals that have no place in our ecosystem. Allowing cats to roam is just one of many ways that humans are harming wildlife. Luckily, there are plenty of great resources on this anthropogenic cause of wildlife deaths and helpful information on transitioning your cat to an indoor pet with safe outdoor time!

Safe Solutions for pet cats from American Bird Conservancy

The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife from Nature Communications

https://www.blueridgewildlifectr.org/