This little sweetheart is such an amazing reminder of why we do this.
He was found last night after being hit by a car. He was rushed to us from Oakwood by the lovely Trudi. On admission, we suspected either spinal or hip injuries, as well as internal bleeding. He was throwing himself around as best he could, wasn't mentally with us, it was absolutely heartbreaking to watch.
We gave him Metacam on admission, and got 1ml of formula an hour into him until late.
After the first hour, he was so much more stable, and I had hope, although he had no use of his legs. Couldn't stand up at all.
I hated seeing him in the state he was in, but I knew I needed to give him a chance, knowing that if he was the same this morning, a trip to the vets would be needed, which is never the outcome we want for any bird.
I got up this morning and went straight down to him, expecting him to have passed away. Instead, he was hopping around his enclosure like nothing had ever happened to him. He ate as soon as food was offered, and is eating and drinking well now.
I'm going to give him a few more days to recover, and then I'm going to free up an aviary for him to have a more suitable environment to build his strength back up before release.
It's amazing what a little time, love, and care (and the correct medication) can do.
We do love a happy ending. 💕
Good evening all.
Just wanted to share this absolute sweetheart. Our first Gull of the Year. 😊 He came in to us on Monday evening. Although we're unsure what happened to him, he was showing symptoms of head trauma. He has no obvious injuries, but we do believe he had flown into something, as he was unresponsive and with a head tremor.
We gave fluids and offered food and left him to rest for the night in the warmth. (You have to be very careful warming a bird up if they've suffered head trauma, so a heatpad wasn't an option, but a warm room was).
By morning, he was jumping around that much, that the carrier was moving across the floor. We spent the day emptying out our small aviary that we had used for disabled feral pigeons and set it up for him instead. We tried alsorts of food that we know gulls love, but he wasn't eating.
Then, I offered a mackerel loin, and he pretty much ate it whole. He turned down tuna, liver pate, cat, and dog meat amongst other food, but we finally won him over. 😅
The second part of the video is him 24 hours after coming in. Look at that difference!
Today, he has spent his time running around his pen, bathing, preening, bathing some more, eating all the mackerel he can find, and then biting me and chasing me off when I'm putting more food in for him. 🤣
He's an amazing little character!
He still isn't flying yet, though, so he has a little more time with us before he's recovered enough to fly free again, and going by his attitude, he can't wait. 🤣 💕
I was delightfully surprised to receive this baby pigeon earlier. Travelled all the way from Sheffield. He's now halfway out of the egg, but we're monitoring him in case he does have any difficulties.
It's moments like this that we're glad to always have an incubator set up and ready to go.
We don't know if he'll make it, but this is way too precious not to share. 🥹💕
This absolutely precious baby called Knuckles was rescued by a lovely little lad called Oscar.
He fell from the roof of a house onto a bin, along with his sibling, who was sadly already deceased.
His rescuers got him nice and comfy with a heatpad and put him in the airing cupboard to keep him warm while they found help.
He came in last night, ate lots, had a good first night in the incubator, and was ready to start eating as soon as it started getting light. He is the tiniest little bird I think I've ever seen, and we believe him to be a finch of some sort, but aren't 100%. We'll know for sure as he gets older.
🤞 for this little baby, we're so full of hope that he'll make it, and look forward to seeing him grow and change. 💕
UPDATE:
A lot of people have been asking about our little pigeon that was deliberately kicked by a 'person'.
He came in with his head swollen, his eyes swollen bigger than I've ever seen, a beak injury. He was starving, cold, and wet. Absolutely petrified of us.
I didn't think he'd pull through. Not with what he had done to him.
But two days of love and nursing. Two days of tubefeeds, pain relief, heatpads, reassurance, and gentleness, two amazing days of loving this little guy, and look at him now.
He runs to my hand now instead of cowering away, he's preening himself, and he's attempting to eat again.
I didn't think he'd ever recover, but just look at him.
I named him 'Journey' in the hope he would recover and still have a journey through life to make, and I'm hopeful that we'll stay a part of each others journey for a long time. 💕
Rescue, rehabilitate and release.
