Roadside assistance: Orange Veterinarian Lauren Slater's advice for helping wildlife hit by cars

The warm weather means wildlife is more active and unfortunately our birds, lizards, turtles and other critters don't follow road safety advice.

Canobolas Family Pet Hospital veterinarian Lauren Slater said the surgery had again noticed an upward trend of injured wildlife coming through its doors.

"This time of year it is particularly bad," she said.

"Spring summer, everything is out and about at the moment, it's not as bad during winter."

Ms Slater said the first goal when assessing an injured bird or animal brought in was deciding if it could recover well enough to survive when released.

"It depends on the injury. The goal with any wildlife is to make sure it can be returned to the wild and survive in the wild," she said.

"Injuries like head trauma, things like that, simple breaks that we can fix then yes, they can get repaired and they can get released but complex spiral fractures - broken necks, severe injuries, it ends up with euthanasia."

Ms Slater said birds, particularly magpies and galahs, were regularly brought into Canobolas Family Pet Hospital but lizards and lately turtles also featured.

Usually they are treated before being handed over to a WIRES volunteer for recovery.

She said for birds, head trauma, sometimes from flying into windows, was a common injury,

"Or getting bumped by a car while they are flying. We do get a fair few wing breaks as well, that's quite common and then for the other animals, like the lizards and the possums, it's usually dog bite wounds."

Turtles are particularly mobile at the moment with cracked shells the common injury.

"Once again, especially at this time of year, they must be on the move. The last few weeks we've had a fair few. They're always hit-by-car situations," Ms Slater said.

"With shell injuries they do need to be kept out of the water for six months at least, so it's only the ones with minor injuries that we can repair."

If you do come across an injured bird or animal, confine it by placing it in a box or wrapping it in towel or jumper and take it to a vet clinic.

"Whatever you've got to try and confine them. Try and avoid being bitten," Ms Slater said.

"As long as we're open they can bring it straight in. If it is found after hours we recommend keeping it over night and bringing it in first thing in the morning.

"Bringing it to us gives us the best chance of assessing it and either getting it to somewhere that it can heal or putting it out of its pain."

The service is free. Alternatively, call WIRES on 1300 094 737 who can give you advice on a course of action.

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