Well-meaning people pick up thousands of healthy fledglings, fawns and leverets every year, while real emergencies like a cat bite can look harmless. Tap what you have seen for an instant verdict.
Stop before picking it up: this is almost certainly a healthy fledgling learning to fly.
Young garden birds leave the nest 2–5 days before they can fly. Their parents stay hidden in nearby trees and fly down every 15–30 minutes to feed them — but will not come down while you are standing close by.
What to do right now
Leave it where it is and watch from indoors or at least 15 metres away for up to an hour.
Only move it a few feet into a nearby bush if it is sitting in a road, driveway or right in front of a prowling cat.
It DOES need a rescue if it is featherless/pink (a nestling), dragging a wing, bleeding, or has been in a cat's mouth.
A hedgehog out in daylight (especially sunbathing or staggering) is almost always hypothermic, dehydrated or injured.
Hedgehogs are strictly nocturnal. The only exception is a brisk, purposeful mother moving nest in spring — if a hedgehog is lying still in the open, wobbling, covered in flies/tiny white fly eggs, or out on an autumn/winter day, it will die without warmth and care.
What to do right now
Pick it up using gardening gloves or a folded towel and place it in a high-sided cardboard box.
Give it a hot-water bottle (or plastic bottle filled with warm tap water) wrapped in a thick towel so it can move off the heat if it wants.
Keep the box indoors in a quiet, dark room, do NOT feed milk or bread, and ring your nearest hedgehog rescue.
Deer mothers and hares deliberately leave their young hidden alone for 8–12 hours at a time to keep predators away.
Fawns and leverets have almost no scent. If the mother stayed next to them all day, predators would spot her. Touching or picking up a quiet, uninjured fawn removes it from its mother and makes rehabilitation very difficult.
What to do right now
Back away quietly, keep dogs on a lead, and leave the area immediately so the mother feels safe returning at dusk.
Do NOT touch the fawn or try to give it milk.
Only ring a rescue if the fawn is lying on a road, visibly bleeding/broken, crying continuously for hours, or next to a deceased mother.
Even a tiny, invisible tooth prick from a cat carries Pasteurella bacteria that is fatal within 24–48 hours without antibiotics.
Many people release a bird, mouse or baby rabbit after rescuing it from their cat because "it didn't have a scratch on it". Microscopic punctures under feathers or fur cause rapid septicaemia unless treated by a rescue or vet.
What to do right now
Never release an animal that has been in a cat's mouth, even if it seems lively.
Place it immediately in a dark, ventilated cardboard box lined with kitchen roll or a smooth towel (no loops that catch claws).
Ring a wildlife rescue or local vet straight away and mention it was a cat capture so they can administer antibiotics.
Window-strike birds suffer concussion and eye/brain swelling — leaving them exposed on the ground invites cats and magpies.
Most stunned garden birds need 45–60 minutes in a dark, quiet box for concussion to subside. However, if they still cannot fly strongly after an hour, they likely have a fractured coracoid (shoulder) or internal haemorrhage.
What to do right now
Gently lift the bird into a ventilated shoebox lined with kitchen roll, close the lid, and leave it somewhere dark, cool-to-room-temperature and completely quiet (never in direct sun).
Do not peek repeatedly or try to drip water into its beak.
After 60 minutes, take the box outdoors and open the lid: if it does not fly straight up into cover, close the box and ring a bird rescue.
Healthy bats do not rest on the ground or low exposed walls in daylight — it needs help, but never handle with bare hands.
Bats are legally protected and a very small percentage in the UK carry European Bat Lyssavirus (a rabies-related virus). Trained volunteer bat ambulance drivers across the UK can advise and collect.
What to do right now
Never touch a bat with bare hands. Wear thick leather/gardening gloves or place a small box/tub over the bat and slide stiff card underneath.
Put a clean tea towel or kitchen roll inside a ventilated shoebox with a tiny shallow bottle-top of water (the one exception where water is safe), and tape the lid shut securely — bats squeeze through tiny gaps.
Ring the National Bat Helpline on 0345 1300 228 or your nearest listed bat rescue.
General guidance compiled from UK rescue organisations, not veterinary advice. If you are unsure, ring a rescue or a vet and describe what you can see.
