Sweet William is a subadult male on the cusp of adulthood. He was found face down on the grass in a suburban backyard under high voltage powerlines. These lines are so far apart the bats can't span them and get electrocuted, but it's possible that he flew into the wire and flipped and crash landed underneath. I don't know. If it wasn't CoVid time, our favourite Vicky the vet nurse, we love Vicky the vet nurse would have xrayed him for me to see if he had a spinal injury, just to sate my curiosity.

I really didn't expect this boy to survive right from the second I saw him and his ragged breathing and poor use of his legs. I couldn't get him euthanased till Vicky was at work, so I took him home, gave him some analgesia and waited till I could take him to the vet.

I have put up footage after the disclaimer screen, with a warning to not view if you're sensitive to animals in distress. There is footage of him gasping for breath, then footage of me looking at his body after he died.

Retrospectively I think he flew into the powerlines, flipped over and somersaulted, at such speed that he fractured his spine somewhere in his thoracic region, with some spinal cord damage allowing him to still move his wings and legs mostly - though minimal. I couldn't feel any cord spinal fracture (I often can if the spine is displaced). I think the injury also fractured some of his ribs and punctured his lung - and after he was dead and I was looking at him to try to figure out what was going on inside, he started bleeding out of his nose and mouth. I didn't have the urge to necropsy him to satisfy my curiosity. I don't feel like cutting up more bodies at the moment. Too much death happening.

RIP Sweet little William.

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