Patient of the Week
All proceeds from Steve Irwin Day go into projects such as the Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Australian Wildlife Hospital.
The Australian Wildlife Hospital treats thousands of injured animals each year. Sadly, many of them don’t make it back to the wild. The lucky ones make a full recovery and go on to live happy and healthy lives in their natural habitat. These are their stories…
Beep the Topknot Pigeon
Age: Juvenile
Sex: Unknown Weight: 190gms
Found: Unable to walk or fly in Buderim
Transported to: The Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital by a Bird Rehabilitator from a local Wildlife Rehabilitation Group
Veterinary Assessment: After doing a quick visual assessment Dr Robyn was able to see that Beep was able to flap his wings and use his Right leg well. Beep's Left leg was much weaker and after an X-ray he was found to have a partially healed fracture of that limb. Although guarded about his chance for recovery, Dr Robyn made the decision to cast Beep's leg and give him a chance to heal. While examining Beep, Dr Robyn also discovered an old injury to his wing. The range of movement in the wing was still good.
Treatment: A cast was applied to Beep's leg and Dr Robyn prescribed a calcium supplement to be added to his food to assist with the healing of the bone. Beep's immediate care will be in a small aviary to protect his leg against damage he might inflict in a larger aviary. He will be reassessed in the near future to check the condition of the cast and the progress of the bone calcification.
Future: The wildlife rehabilitator who rescued Beep will be caring for him during his recovery. It will be quite a number of weeks before Beep can be transferred into a large aviary to test the strength of his newly healed leg and his flight ability with the old injury to his wing. Dr Robyn is guarded about his future release but as Beep is an unusual species there maybe other alternatives for him.
AZWH Fact: Topknot Pigeons are Rainforest birds. Like other pigeons they live in large flocks but their diet is very different to many other species of pigeon. They live exclusively on fruit. These beautiful and unusual birds are fast disappearing from our landscape due to destruction of the eucalypt forests and their slow population growth. The females only lay ONE egg each season.
View previous Patients of the Week at http://www.australiazoo.com.au/conservation/wildlife-warriors/patient-of-the-week/