Boy thats the second time I have heard of a rehab center maybe not releasing a bird due to a eye injury only. I'd be more worried about the wing than anything else.
I totally agree with you, the wing is the 1st priority. If the wing is ok and there is no long-term complications involved with the eye trauma, this owl coud live a normal life.
Here are pictures of a great horned owl with a eye injury. The foreign body was removed in surgery and the surface of the eye stitched and he healed perfectly. Owls hunt mainly by audition, and red tailed hawks and bald eagles are opportunists, they have a wide range of prey and can feed on carrion if needed.
Everything I hold in my hands today could be only a memory tomorrow. Carpe Diem.
Another owl was amputated of 2 digits, the "front-facing" ones. He learned of to land correctly using only backward-facing digits, turning one so he could grip the perches and the preys.
The most concerning injuries are at the wings, particularly the humerus: this bone hase very poor blood supply and heals poorly. This is a peregrine with a broken humerus. He went in surgery, then physiotherapy under anesthesia, then rehabilitation in a 300x100 feet flight to rebuild some muscles. After that, falconers trained him to see if his wing could sustain the huge pressure of the stoop, and he did well.
Everything I hold in my hands today could be only a memory tomorrow. Carpe Diem.
I have said in the past I started volunteering at a BOP conservancy at the age of 12. I became staff at the age of 17. Course that was about 8yrs ago before I joined the military. I have seen all kinds of birds come into the conservancy. With a conservancy that receives almost 280-300 birds a year I have seen my fair share of injuries. The injuries I worry about the most is wing injuries (specifically wrist and leading edge tendons) poison, and electrocution. There are many others but those three tend to kill or leave bird unreleasable. Now... the conservancy has released Crested CaraCaras that have only had one wing. This is a special circumstance due to the bird being able to live off foot. They are much like road runners in ways and are great tool users. Two where release on a Ranch in South Texas and as far as I know they they where quite successful out there. I also use to think that raptors would not survive with one foot. Until I was shown pictures of a golden that blew that theory out the window. This Person said this golden had been hunting the same areas for years. I forget where I saw this but it may even be on this forum. Yes these birds are pretty tough and can survive a lot. We had a Non releasable Bald eagle that was shot in the head. Bullet passed through the cere and took out a eye. Bird survived was flying around it's flight when I left for the military. I believe the bird wasn't released due to the state of Feds saying it wasn't (I'm not positive though).
Last Edit: May 14, 2007 17:29:51 GMT -5 by Tiercel78
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Not a success story But years ago I found a Great Horn in a freshly cut soy bean field just below a power pole, poor guy just caught a small rabbit and landed on one of the power lines and the dangling rabbit grounded him. Here the thing, he was missing a foot and evidently has been missing it for awhile! Just think, he was surviving with just one foot. The game warren told me people will put traps on fence post to do this to hawks and owls I never heard of that before.
Robert
There's a race of men that don't fit in, A race that can't stay still; So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will. Robert Service
The game warren told me people will put traps on fence post to do this to hawks and owls I never heard of that before. Robert
I've seen these traps, in real life and in action. The foot of the GHO I showed on this thread was injured by such a trap. Very vicious device that never kills on the spot, but leave the wounded bird hanging by its feet for a death by exhaustion. Human cruelty at its best.
Everything I hold in my hands today could be only a memory tomorrow. Carpe Diem.
I also use to think that raptors would not survive with one foot. Until I was shown pictures of a golden that blew that theory out the window. This Person said this golden had been hunting the same areas for years.
Amazing!
We released a bald eagle with a paralysed foot, and he is still doing very well, eating mostly fish caught by other eagles or ospreys.
In fact 2 digits still had some movement in them but not enough to grab a prey. This eagle was caught in a 3-spurs fishing bate (?? not sur eof the term??). 2 spurs caught 2 digits, 1 spur entered the beak between the mandibules, pierced through the palate and went out behind the nostril. Imagine the posture of the bird. The first treatments involved removing hundreds of maggots from its toes and nasal cavities... We did hydrotherapy on the wounds every other day, to minimize stress but improve healing, and finally we amputated 1 digit and left the central one completely paralysed, as infection went up the tendon sheet. Infection was cured, but the fibrosis (scarring) that took place after that was so important that the movements were almost impossible.
This particular bird has been a pain to treat... It's the one on my avatar. At first when infection started to go up the leg we did cultures and gave him full doses of antibiotics (ATB), but it didn't improved at all. A week later when cleaning its pen we found 7 pills hidden under a corner of the astroturf... We then used liquid ATB, which he refused to eat. Finally we ended up catching him each day to inject them into it... for 3 weeks... We soon became experts at catching bald eagle, and the eagle soon became expert at escaping our moves in the dark...
The grey thing between the green slimy necrosis is the mandibule bone. The stitching didn't work, but it finally healed well.
Not a success story But years ago I found a Great Horn in a freshly cut soy bean field just below a power pole, poor guy just caught a small rabbit and landed on one of the power lines and the dangling rabbit grounded him. Here the thing, he was missing a foot and evidently has been missing it for awhile! Just think, he was surviving with just one foot. The game warren told me people will put traps on fence post to do this to hawks and owls I never heard of that before.
Robert
I have also seen these traps (leg hold like any fur trapper trap) and the victims. The nicest looking male RT I have ever seen had both feet at mid tarsus completly severed. I felt really SH!@tty having to put that bird down but there was nothing we could do.
Last Edit: May 16, 2007 14:42:57 GMT -5 by Tiercel78
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
I have said in the past I started volunteering at a BOP conservancy at the age of 12. I became staff at the age of 17. Course that was about 8yrs ago before I joined the military. I have seen all kinds of birds come into the conservancy. With a conservancy that receives almost 280-300 birds a year I have seen my fair share of injuries. The injuries I worry about the most is wing injuries (specifically wrist and leading edge tendons) poison, and electrocution. There are many others but those three tend to kill or leave bird unreleasable.
Very interesting experience. You are not a vet? What kind of rehab center was it, did they have full time vets, how did they functionned?
The cases we saw the most at the COP were traumatic injuries (broken wings/legs, wounds, cranial trauma etc) often of unknown cause but when we knew what happened, it was generally human origin: car, window, cruelty etc.
Then the false-orphaned birds were good secund, young branchers or fledglings brought into houses, badly cared for and dangerously sick or imprinted at the time of presentation.
Denutrition in passage birds was frequent, we saw lead poisonnings on a regular basis, trichomoniasis in urban peregrine chicks, West Nile occasionnally.
Everything I hold in my hands today could be only a memory tomorrow. Carpe Diem.