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The tale of a lost tail: injured plains garter snake rescued, operated on in Regina

A volunteer for Salthaven West clinic, which admits orphaned and injured wildlife, found a tiny plains garter snake crossing a road in Moose Jaw with two serious puncture wounds in its body.

Tiny snake expected to make a full recovery: wildlife clinic

Laura Sciarpelletti · CBC News ·
The little snake is expected to make a big recovery. (Salthaven West/Facebook)

Warning: This story contains graphic images and descriptions of an injured reptile. 

What happened when the snake crossed the road?

A good Samaritan saw it was hurt and took it to a wildlife clinic in Regina.

A volunteer for Salthaven West clinic, which admits orphaned and injured wildlife, found a tiny plains garter snake crossing a road in Moose Jaw on Oct. 4. When she went to look at it, Brittany Niemi noticed the juvenile snake had two serious puncture wounds on its body.

"They were not very nice," Natalia Slipak, clinic manager of Salthaven West, said of the injuries.

"Some of his organs were being exposed and he needed a little bit of a surgery at the end of his tail because some of the vertebrae was exposed there."

A women sitting at a bench holding an terrarium with a snake inside.
Natalia Slipak, clinic manager of Salthaven West, says many injured wildlife that come through the clinic's doors have been attacked by cats. (Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC)

First, Salthaven had to push the unnamed reptile's organs back into its little body.

"What we did was disinfect all the area and very gently and slowly push any organ that was exposed back inside. And then we glued the punctures as [Brittany] was holding him, which you can see would be extremely difficult because he's very fast. He's very small," said Slipak, pointing to the plastic container that held the recovering serpent.

Then the tiny but mighty snake had about a centimetre of its tail amputated on Wednesday. Slipak says it won't make a huge difference in its life.

Lorilee Sereda of the Veterinary Mobility Centre conducted the partial tail amputation.

Salthaven West workers had to push the snake's organs carefully back into its body, after it sustained puncture wounds. (Brittany Niemi)
The plains garter snake from Moose Jaw undergoes a tail amputation and surgery. (Veterinary Mobility Centre)

Slipak says the snake's puncture wounds may have been the work of a free-roaming cat. In fact, she says eight out of 10 injured wildlife they get at the clinic are wounded by cats.

"Cats are not a native species that belongs outside. Wildlife belongs outside, and unfortunately we do see a lot of casualties from cats, either home cats that are let outside or just stray cats."

So what's next for the snake?

"He's doing really, really good for now. So we're hopeful for him … crossing fingers," said Slipak.

The little plains garter snake is expected to make a full recovery. (Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC)

The garter snake is currently on antibiotics and will be reassessed in a few days. When the clinic decides it's well enough, it will be returned to the area in Moose Jaw where it was first discovered.

From there it's expected to slither out its days normally.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Sciarpelletti

Journalist & Radio Columnist

Laura is a journalist for CBC Saskatchewan. She is also the community reporter for CBC's virtual road trip series Land of Living Stories and host of the arts and culture radio column Queen City Scene Setter, which airs on CBC's The Morning Edition. Laura previously worked for CBC Vancouver. Some of her former work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, NYLON Magazine, VICE Canada and The Tyee. Laura specializes in human interest, arts and health care coverage. She holds a master of journalism degree from the University of British Columbia. Send Laura news tips at [email protected]

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