A Sad One Today

Posted on: 11/06/2011

Saturday June 11th 2011
Driving through the woods today I spotted this grass snake motionless by the road. I pulled over to see if it was dead and saw that it had some pretty serious injuries. It had clearly been caught by a raptor and either been dropped or the bird had been frightened off by something. The faintest movements showed that it wasn't dead so I put it in the back of the car to attempt some rescue surgery when I got home. When I opened the car door again it had hidden itself under the seat so there was clearly a bit of life left in it. However, when I started cleaning it up I realised that the protruding flesh (circled) was actually its heart. Only minutes but by the time I had fetched the medical stuff it was too late. It would almost certainly have died even if I'd managed to get the heart back in but you have to try!