Yesterday, a friend called me with an S.O.S. His friend had just rescued a bird (didn’t say which type) off the street and was looking for a vet to treat it. Unfortunately, the vets he went to could not treat the bird (this is true because most vets do not have the proper medication for treating birds). So this friend asked for advice. His friend also wanted to get an adopter for the bird, so I presume the bird can’t be the ordinary sparrow, mynah or crow.
I made a few phonecalls and found out a few things which I’d like to share with you.
1. Adult birds have a tendency to commit suicide when captured, so quickly seek expert help for them.
2. The Bird Park in KL has the experts to handle birds. Send the bird there as soon as you can.
3. Chicks have a better chance of survival and may not have that suicide tendency.
This information was conveyed to the friend and he finally decided to send the bird to the UPM Vet Hospital.
We hope the bird is alright now.
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2 responses to “A bird story”
Birds (especially if they are young) should be kept warm, especially at night. If possible, cover the cage at night and leave a little space for the little birdie to peek out. Wild birds startle easily, so it is best to keep a rescued bird high, maybe on a table.
I rescued a little baby bulbul (i thought it was a little sparrow at that time) whose nest got knocked out of the tree during a heavy thunderstorm. He’s now a 7 years old cheeky bundle of joy. Oh, I never got to release him as he insisted the best place to be was on my head, lol. He’s now the flying instructor for my parrot with his wonderful manoeuvring skills.
My vet once asked me if I knew anyone who could foster a badly injured bird found by the roadside. I said yes and gave it to an Indonesian sweeper who often rescues young and injured birds and cared for them. Though the poor bird eventually died from its injuries, it had received tender loving care and was hand-fed crickets everyday. Once I found a young bird hopping in my garden and gave it to him. He cared for it and finally released it when it grew older, continuing to feed it everyday amongst the trees and soon it flew back less frequently (probably having learnt to feed itself eventually) and finally stopped returning. Just several days ago, I gave him an injured young white pigeon that I found near my office building.
Try asking the Indonesians around. Give them some money to buy crickets or other bird food. Some of them really love birds and they really know how to care for birds.