5th October 2021
It is with great sadness that we have to report the passing of a beloved member of our extended family. Magpie Kiri passed away peacefully in our hands after very short illness.
Kiri came to us as an adult bird of unknown age in March 2017, after being rescued by a kind person following a presumed high impact trauma and subsequent predator attack, which left her almost completely blind and flightless. We were able to successfully treat her infected eye injuries. Kiri’s extensive soft tissue injuries healed very well over time too. Unfortunately, some of the damage to brain and eyes was irreversible and led to the situation that Kiri was not releasable and had to live with mild bilateral cataracts and some residual balance issues. However, Kiri showed us very clearly that she was very keen and perfectly capable of living happily together with her own kind in a large outdoor aviary. Kiri joined successfully our small group of magpies and became close friends with Rosalind and Chiara.
Unfortunately, a few months ago, her cataracts became worse due to her increasing age, and Kiri started to struggle to cope with low outdoor temperatures and the outdoor environment in general. The last period of her live Kiri has spent indoors in the comfort of a large indoor aviary and became very close friends with our disabled jackdaw Izzy. She very much enjoyed the warmth of the indoor environment, her food and most of all the company of Izzy, despite his antiques and occasional naughtiness. Her overall situation stabilised very well until a few days ago, when she became less active and very sleepy. Despite intensive treatment measures, Kiri passed eventually away peacefully only a few days later. Rest in peace Kiri. You are greatly missed by all of us, and in particular by Izzy.
“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that it is wrong with the world.” Paul Farmer