My son Sam and I are FOC volunteers (Friends of Carers) for Bonorong Wildlife Park, who do native animal rescues in Tasmania. Yesterday we were sent collect a "Shearwater". What we found was this lovely Black Faced Cormorant (who could confuse those 2?), who was very dehydrated. The bird was found wandering the streets of Cygnet about 60 klm from Hobart, smallish country town, that is also close to a large bay and estuary system. She was not injured, but could not or would not fly.
Have not done the bird feeding bit yet, until last night, so we took her(??) to another carer, who showed us how to tube feed a bird. My occupation is an Intensive Care Paramedic, so the techiniques are familiar to me, but never had to "gastric tube a bird" before. Anyway the process is quite simple, and easier than doing a human tube.
This little girl weighed 1205 grams, right on the lower limit for and adult female (1200). The tube was inserted and she was given some "Vitrate". This all went very well, she was tolerant. After 48 hours of care and tube feeding, she will be taken to Bonorong's sea bird enclosure, where she will be fed. Once she can feed herself, she will be released close to where she was found. If any problems are identified, she will be off to the vet. Bonorong use a very wildlife and bird friendly vet, so euthanising is an absolute last resort, and only in the best interests of the animal or bird.
Some photos of the event, sorry about the focus, but had to be done efficiently, so as not to distress her.
Thanks
What a great job !!! My daughter worked in an Animal Emergency Centre (AEC) here in Hallam. They got a lot of wildlife in, so she is very familiar with those procedures, I will forward this post to her, if I may.? She will start a new job soon at Healesville Sanctuary, assisting a Vetenary Surgeon. She will be very interested to see this.
Thanks for posting, and even more thanks for doing what you are doing for wildlife
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I keep an emergency kitt for wildlife in my car : a small cage, a blanket, some desinfectant spray,sterile bandages, some gloves, some garden gloves for animals that might bite, a spray to mark dead animals I checked for babies in the pouch, some phone numbers to call for help.... and all sorts of things.And a few more things my daughter gave me from the animal Hospital. I keep it all in a small box, for : just in case. If we ALL would do that, but most of all, if ALL OF US would STOP for injured WILDLIFE, we could make a difference, and save their lives. Lives we are responsible for, lives we sacrifice for our gain.
Again , thanks Dale
M-L
Thanks for you kind remarks, happy for you to forward to your daughter. We see a lot of animal trauma, but more common are the orphans, mostly from road kill. Tasmania has a reputation for being the road kill capitol of Australia. Sam and I do the "rescue" first aid and then transport to registered carers. Soon I will be registered to give short term care for birds, so all, things being equal, will continue to post some good stories here. Hopefully some one will, learn something, and I am always happy to learn more as I go along.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Great story, Dale, & most informative. I'm trying to think of a slogan for the Anti Road Kill, or ARK, campaign for Tasmania.
I've just started doing this myself Dale - more transporting than anything at the moment. There are a lot of sea birds in this area - the latest bird I took to a carer was a storm petrel. Thank you for doing this in Tasmania - it is really needed especially as you indicated due to the high amount of road trauma.
Alison
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"the earth is not only for humans, but for all animals and living things."