What To Do About an Injured Flyer

[TomahawkFlyers]

This evening as I was feeding some of the colony kids, I noticed that one has lost close to half of her tail. Perhaps a predator almost got her. I suspect that this means her gliding days are over, and that she is now easier prey because of her inability to jump and glide away (while steering) from predators. She's moving quickly but gingerly. She was a little skittish with me, and she normally isn't. I think the freshness of the injury and the trauma have something to do with this. Anyone ever encounter this problem? How did you handle it? Thoughts on rounding her up and keeping her indoors? She regularly takes food from my fingers, will jump into my hand to take a block out of it, and occasionally climbs aboard for very short periods. She is a wild and retains wild wariness. A quick movement on my part or an unexpected sound will cause her to flee. She touches me - I don't touch her. Attempting to pick her up would undoubtedly be interpreted as aggression. I'd need to live trap her. I think she was born Spring of last year. Not sure how she and Ollie might interact - they are not of the same colony. Ollie is S-H-Y.

Thoughts?

Jamie

[CritterMom]

Half a tail. Have you been able to observe her at all to see if you can see any deficits in her movement? Their wings do most of the heavy work but they certainly do use the tail as a stabilizer. But they are great at work arounds when it comes to physical deficits, too.

[TomahawkFlyers]

There do not appear to be any deficits in movement, other that being somewhat ginger. I saw her day before yesterday, and she was intact. The loss occurred over the past 24-48 hours. I suspect that there are nerve endings back there, and if there are, I imagine she is in some pain. She is at that level of wild that I doubt I can administer medication. She would need to be fairly incapacitated and unable to fend for herself for that to happen. I will not attempt to round her up, but observe instead. Thanks for the reply!

Jamie