Rescues.

[den]

This week has been a bloody nightmare.

I've rescued 4 blackbird chicks, 3 starling chicks and 5 sparrow chicks. Since they're all feral they ALL had to be euthanised. It got to a point where a wman rang to have another sparrow rescued, and I told her what I'd have to do. She was very disappointed. Then I said "Would you like to try to raise it?" So I told her how to raise a sparrow. It's illegal to release ferals back into the wild but I didn't care. Anything to avoid killing something else.

Today I rescued a blue-tongued lizard that had been attacked by a dog. The lizard's back was broken and it's vent was prolapsed. I had to put it down, too. Since reptile metabolism is so slow, you can't kill them quickly on drugs or chloroform. The only way to kill them humanely is to destroy the brain. So I put the lizard in an old pillow case, found the head, then smashed it with a hammer. Then I cut the head off with a shovel. Fuck I hate doing this.

I also picked up two rosellas that were so badly diseased they had to go. I don't know the proper names, but one had "beak and feather" disease and the other had "sticky pooh." Both birds were emaciated beyond belief.

The dove with a compound fracture full of maggots didn't require much thought beyond "How fast can I put this one down?"

The only successes this week were a pair of noisy minah chicks, a grass parrot chick, and a nankeen kestrel chick: the cutest ball of brown fuzz with sharp pointy bits I've ever seen. It bit my finger with hardly enough pressure to leave a mark. Then it grabbed my finger with its talons. It didn't draw blood but I experienced first hand the ratchet-effect raptor feet have. I had to wait until it wanted to let go.

So many young birds! The parents can't feed them in this drought.

Comments

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Are the minahs, parrot, and kestrel okay?

I know how hard it is to care. Fucking drought. You're doing your best for them. I'm sorry. *hug*

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

The noisy miners are doing well! ("noisy miner" is a native species not to be confused with "indian mynah") They'll be fully fledged and redy to fly by christmas. They look like this: http://www.ozbird.wild.net.au/noisyminer.html

The kestrel took a couple of days to work out that its mum wasn't coming back, and now accepts food from the carer. They eat mice and insects in the wild, so right now it's being fed pre-killed mice and rat-babies (it's illegal to feed live prey) and whatever large 'hoppers can be caught in the garden. Rehab is difficult with raptors but the nankeen kestrels are easier. The carer will put a dead mouse inder a pile of hay in the cage then use a stick to make "mouse movement" noises so the bird has to hunt. And for added excitment she'll throw a handful of live grasshoppers in there for the bird to catch. http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/NankeenKestrel(KR).jpg

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Are the noisy miners indeed noisy? ;) The chick is adorable! And the kestrel... ooooo, pretty. But I'm remembering your experiences with birds of prey last year, and guessing that you'd rather give them a miss. ;)

Meerp?

[ionotter.livejournal.com]

Is the carer using a kestrel hand-puppet? Rehabilitators seem to have had remarkable success in the prevention of human parental "imprinting".

Re: Meerp?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

She covers herself with a bed sheet and wears bright yellow gardening gloves. The trick is to keep the bird from associating humans with food. It's already old enough to know what it's supposed to be.