Tarmacadam – When Life Gets You Stuck

We have an extremely wide range of cases presented to us, from dogs with tetanus or rabies to cats being killed by soldier ants. But just when we think we have seen it all, another case comes along to surprise us.

Enter, Tarmacadam. We received a call from a very concerned lady who rescues dogs in The Gambia – she had discovered a dog completely stuck in tar on the side of the road. He was stuck completely rigid and the tar was beginning to set around him. It was completely insufferable as not only was he stuck fast, but he was also in the direct sun which was beating down at 43 degrees centigrade. During the long and arduous process of trying to carefully cut him free of the rapidly setting tar he inevitably managed to get even more tar all over him than he started out with. Thankfully he was finally freed from his position and transported to our veterinary centre at Makasutu in The Gambia. By the time he reached us it was about 6pm. Our team of volunteers vets and nurses from the UK and our Gambian staff team had already had a very busy day carrying out a much needed neutering and vaccination campaign for street animals but it was all hands on deck as soon as Tarmacadam arrived.

Heather Armstrong, Charity Director said “Our team set to work immediately with six of our team members starting the gruelling task of removing the tar from his body. Every part of him was completely stuck together – his pads and toes fused together, his legs stuck to each other, all of his orifices completely sealed with tar. It wasn’t possible to sedate him because he was so flat from shock and exhaustion that he was quite unresponsive despite the urgent work going on all over his body.” He was immediately put onto fluids and of course given plenty of pain relief to ease his suffering. To save his life, time was of the essence so our team worked non-stop to remove the tar from his body from 6pm until 2am. We used vegetable oil to soften the tar and dish soap to try to wash it off. Much of the tar had to be removed with scissors, carefully cutting it away from his body whilst taking every care not to cut his fragile skin in the process. Eventually, with Tarmacadam and his whole rescue team completely exhausted and the worst of the tar removed it was time to call it a night, allow him to rest and come back to him the following day. Heather Armstrong explained “I have been running the charity in The Gambia for over 20 years now, but this was the first time I have seen a case like this. I was so glad I could be there to help the team – it really was all hands on deck!”

The following morning it was more of the same, hours and hours of more cleaning. He was now clean enough that we could sit him in a warm bucket of water whilst we continued to wash him all over. As would be expected, Tarmacadam was exhausted and weak, or at least that was what we thought. However, perhaps as a result of being free from most of the tar he got a sudden lease of life during the cleaning process and managed to slip his lead and disappear at high speed into the mangroves close by to the veterinary centre. Not a team to be easily defeated, our Gambian Dog Manager, Moss, followed at an equal pace and without hesitation jumped into the crocodile infested waters to swim through the swamp to catch the worried little dog. n For more information visit www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk

Thankfully, this was the last of the dramas with him - a couple more baths in a bucket of warm, bubbly water later and he was finally clean thanks to the heroic efforts of our team.

Tarmacadam has now made a full and complete recovery. During his time at Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust he was neutered and fortunately for him, the kind lady who discovered him decided to offer him a home for life. “We have so many animals brought to us for urgent care who don’t have owners, which leaves us with huge numbers of mouths to feed. We are so grateful when a person who brings an animal to us is able to offer them a loving home, but we still have so many dogs desperately seeking new homes” explained Heather. Tarmacadam has a cautious but curious personality and is gradually growing in confidence. He has now been released from the veterinary hospital and we hope will go on to live many happy years with his new family.