Today, surfing the web, we learned of a great news, the official page of the Lake Kerkini National Park has published a video of a Golden Jackal (Canis aureus) released in the wild after being treated by the vets of Action for Wildlife in Thessaloniki. We got in touch with the Park staff and learned that the individual in question is Goldie!
But who is Goldie? To find out, we must go back in time of about a month, during the last wildlife expedition to Kerkini, in north-eastern Greece.
It is the second day of travel and, satisfied with the many observations made during the morning, we are going to reach the next area to explore. Suddenly our guide Andrea notices a roadkilled animal and, exclaiming “it doesn’t look like a Fox”, he decides to pull the car.
Once we got out of the car, a really raw scene is presented to us: the animal in question is a Jackal invested recently, still alive and slumped on the asphalt. The marvelous Carnivore, alarmed by our presence, tries in every way to get up, without any success: despite not having any external damage, it must have some internal injury.
We decide to don’t lose the calm and do everything to save the animal. Although Saturday’s 13:30, we try in every way to get in touch with the proper authorities, initially with poor results. So we decide to split up.
While Andrea and Salvatore try to talk to someone in the nearby villages, Camillo and Anna wait in the company of the Jackal, positioning a colored cloth a few meters from the animal, to signal the presence of it to cars and trucks speeding on the road. The ride looking for help has not had the desired result, but we don’t lose hope entirely.
So we try, after two hours spent around the animal, to temporarily leave the Jackal, “protected” by the cloth to reach the village of Vyroneia. There we head to the tavern of Lefteris in search of help which hurries promptly to help us. After several phone calls, he reassures us that the Park Authority will recover the unlucky Jackal. Returning shortly to the place of the investment, to verify for ourselves, we are informed that this was taken from an off-road vehicle equipped with a cage.
It was a very strong experience, which marked the following days of the trip and, until now, we had no idea about the animal’s fate. Now, watching this video, our hearts are filled with joy and satisfaction: the fate would have that we were there that day, making the difference in Goldie’s life.
Unfortunately, in Europe, according to the latest scientific studies, deaths from road impact affecting a large number of animals (10 to 100 million per year) and at the same time a very high number of accidents with serious consequences for the drivers.
Improvements such as the creation of subways and other mitigation measures are necessary to allow greater safety not only for animals but also for people.