Bull hits, trampling and machinery falls behind spike in LifeFlight rescues

LifeFlight medical director Dr Jeff Hooper explains why the Toowoomba region is seeing the highest number of animal-related emergencies.

Transcript

00:00So Life Flight airlifted 155 patients this year due to animal related injuries.

00:04That's about 120% increase over the last two years. Due to this location and the

00:10large amount of farming and agricultural areas around Toowoomba, out of all our

00:14bases it's the one that's transmitted the most animal related injuries. These

00:17injuries are related to a variety of mechanisms including strikes from

00:20bulls, falls from agricultural machinery and being hit and trampled on by other

00:25animals. Patients that we've airlifted had a variety of injuries from simple

00:29things like concussion through to you know really significant chest abdominal

00:33injuries as well as fractures. We also see significant injuries from farming

00:38machinery so particularly you know crushed limbs and people falling out of or into

00:43agricultural machinery.