MSPCA General Manager Juana Warburton talks road safety this winter and introduces us to Pip, the rabbit looking for a new home...

Now that our days are shorter, it’s the time of year when more vehicles are on our roads at dawn or dusk, or in the dark – which is when many wild animals and cats (both domestic and feral) are at their most active. Although most hedgehogs should be hibernating by now, polecats are on the move down to the lowlands from higher ground, and pheasants are ‘facing off’ as they compete for territory.

No-one knows how many animals are killed on the Island’s roads every year, although a UK project called The Road Lab has estimated that over a third of all wild animal mortality is due to road kill rather than from predation or disease. Given the Isle of Man has so many roads with unrestricted speed limits, and so many of them are in rural areas, it is likely that our road kill rate is an even higher one than the UK’s.

Simply driving more slowly at night when your vision is compromised could increase the chances of stopping in time, and be the difference between an animal’s life or death.

But if you hit an animal by accident, what do you do? Drive off and hope for the best, or stop when it’s safe to do so and return to check on the condition of the animal? If the animal is a dog or farm animal then the law states that you have to do the latter, and report the incident to the authorities; but there are no such legal obligations if you hit a wild animal or a cat – just a moral obligation. And you may be surprised at just how many wallabies are fatally wounded on our roads in the north.

The Isle of Man’s current legislation (the Wildlife Act and the Cruelty to Animals Act) states that if someone were to recklessly or intentionally kill an animal on the road, a legal case could be pursued. However, there would have to be reasonable proof that the animal’s death was not the incidental result of a lawful operation (i.e. driving) that could not reasonably have been avoided. In practice this would be very difficult for the Constabulary to do.

But we are living in an age where vehicle dashboard cameras (dash cams) are becoming the norm – cheaper and easier to operate. This is where regular readers of this article come in, because we must all play our part and not simply accept that there are some bad drivers on our roads. If you don’t have a dash cam at the moment, why not put one on your Christmas list?

Having video footage of an intentional act of animal cruelty would definitely help the Constabulary to take action, even if it’s only to caution drivers. And knowing that more and more dash cam footage is being passed on to the authorities may act as a deterrent to at least a few inconsiderate or dangerous drivers.

Whist many of his wild cousins die on the Island’s roads, our domestic rabbit Pip is hoping that he can live to his expected age of ten years, or more, as someone’s much-loved pet. He’s only one and a half years old and so he’ll require many years of commitment, which is something that a number of would-be rabbit owners don’t realise.

It’s also important that young Pip is re-homed with a companion because rabbits are sociable creatures and thrive in pairs or groups of their own species.

The ManxSPCA offers a ‘bonding service’ whereby rabbits are brought together in a neutral environment, and introduced to each other gradually.

This usually mitigates any territorial issues or male dominance, as does the fact that all our rabbits are neutered or spayed.

Pip should not be considered as a Christmas present, nor should any animal, although he would be the perfect ‘gift’ for an experienced owner who has an existing rabbit – please contact [email protected] for more information; or call 851672, option 3.