rehabilitation Archives - Page 15 of 15

20/06/201723/01/2023

An Impressive Encounter Of Cultural Learning In Corvids

Animal culture describes the current theory of cultural learning in non-human animals through socially transmitted behaviours. This involves the social transmittance of a novel behavior, both among peers and between generations of the species concerned.

About six years ago I have been called for help as a fledgling crow has flown into a window in one of the enclosed courtyards of the hospital. When I arrived I found a concussed carrion crow fledgling being cold and wet. The bird also showed nutritional deficiencies and subsequently a poor plumage with many white primaries and secondaries. All these problems made it necessary to take the fledgling bird into our care to treat the immediate concussion issues but also to keep the bird for at least one year to allow a full moult into a new healthy plumage, which only happens once a year. Whilst assessing and securing the crow fledgling I have been closely watched and scolded at by the crow parents, and by another crow sitting in some distance on a roof.

Crows are territorial birds. The hospital grounds are forming the centre of the crow territory occupied by the pair of crows, whose fledgling I have been asked to rescue. As documened in the literature, the third crow is likely to be a male crow, who has been accepted by the territory holder pair to reside in the outskirts of the occupied territory helping them to defend their home. One year later I have been called again to rescue another crow fledgling which got stuck in an open hospital sewer canal. The poor bird was soaking wet and hypothermic and had to be taken into care as well. As the year before, the parents watched the incident and tried to defend their youngster.

Corvids Never Forget A Face

Ever since the first incident five years ago, as soon as I enter the hospital grounds to go to my work place, these three crows including their offspring will raise the alarm and at least one of the crows will accompany me until I enter one of the buildings and disappear from their sight. Interestingly, it does not matter what clothing I am wearing, they will easily identify me and recognise my face. Even youngsters born the years after the last incident will raise the alarm and join in, as soon as they become independent and are able to fly and follow me. The members of this extended crow family are also able to identify me when I stand seemingly at random behind one of the hospital windows watching them whilst they are doing their daily business.

This encounter, which demonstrates nicely cultural learning, shows clearly that information regarded as essential and worth keeping is communicated between family members, related and unrelated birds, even years after the actual incident. This lets us conclude that long living animals like crows have some sort of cultural heritage, which is being passed on to future generations. As it is also known that territorial carrion crows will also visit communal roosts, there is also the possibility to consider that some of this or other more essential and useful information of this cultural heritage will also be passed on even further.

10/06/201723/01/2023

How To Successfully Rehabilitate A Wild Raven

Raven Zarathustra in her release aviary.

Zarathustra is an adult female raven, who we have rescued after being found unable to fly. The admission assessment showed an extensive bruise along the proximal end of radius and ulna of the left wing, but luckily no fractures have been found. We could only assume that she must have suffered some sort of impact trauma, most likely caused by a collision with a car. Otherwise Zarathustra showed no other signs of disease and was in a pristine condition.

Part of the usual treatment and rehabilitation programme is passive physiotherapy and controlled gradually increasing active exercise. Fractures, but also soft tissue injuries can cause secondary problems in birds like joint stiffness and contraction of ligaments and tendons, potentially rendering a bird permanently unable to fly and making him or her not releasable. Not unexpected, as in any sentient being, pain is an alarm bell which will dictate how extensive an injured body part will be actively used by the animal who has been inured. That also means that a bird will naturally not use the injured wing, or only to a certain degree, unless he or she is encouraged to do so. This is a well working mechanism, but to achieve best results early careful passive physiotherapy together with appropriate pain relief is often needed to avoid the complications mentioned above.

Female raven Zarathustra undergoing her admission assessment. — Raven Zarathustra

Depending on the birds compliance, personality and individual character there are basically two different ways of rehabilitating a bird by using passive and gradually increasing active physiotherapy. Unlike old fashioned rehabilitation approaches, which are still be taught at animal care courses, we do not avoid interacting with our patients. In fact, we heavily rely on a close bond based on trust, which helps us to achieve best results. The concrete treatment approach always depends on an individual assessment of the animal concerned. In rare cases it might be necessary though, to constrain the animal for the time needed to assess injuries, or to do physiotherapeutic exercises. This procedure is usually stressful, despite precautions being taken to minimise the impact on the bird.

Trust Is The Key Ingredient For A Successful Treatment

Over many years of working with corvids we have learned that in most cases a trust based relationship can be created, to allow even the physical contact needed to perform physiotherapeutic exercises. There is no risk of permanently imprinting or taming a bird, as this relationship is built out of a necessity, understanding and desire of the patient to recover and to get back to normal. This bond will be only temporary and is usually being cut by the patient at an appropriate time. The provision of suitable, specifically tailored aviary space is the most commonly used way to encourage a bird to perform active physiotherapy, meaning to encourage the bird to fly and to strengthen his or her muscles.

Zarathustra, a wild adult female raven, is a good example for this treatment approach based on trust, common sense and the targeted use of compliance to achieve the desired goal. She underwent her normal daily assessment and simple physiotherapeutic exercise performed usually twice a day, without the need for constraining the bird and causing unnecessary stress. Zarathustra did cooperate very well and was always in control of the situation. If an exercise did cause her any discomfort, or she was not content enough to proceed, she would either move away or she would make a non-verbal statement to make her intentions clear by using her powerful beak to gently nudge the offending hand away.

Zarathustra made a full recovery and has been successfully released after four weeks of treatment and rehabilitation.

02/06/201723/01/2023

Wildlife Rescue – A Privilege To Interact With Sentient Beings

Rook Teal'c in our outdoor release aviary.

The encounter I am writing about repeats itself often, but every time it is a completely new and unique event. We are getting a new rescue bird patient in and are treating the animal until he or she is ready for release back into the wild. Again and again we are astonished about how quickly we are able to establish a close relationship with the bird in our care. It is always about the same ingredients: Respect, patience, understanding and love. This brief story is dedicated to all of our rescue birds, but in particular to Teal’c, a very close rook friend, who came into our care after we found him soaked, cold and orphaned sitting in a puddle on a busy main road on the Isle of Wight.

Teal'c is an orphaned rook fledgling, who recovered well after being found orphaned with signs of severe dehydration and starvation. — Rook Teal’c

Teal’c was very poorly when we took him in, and we actually didn’t believe that we would be able to save him. But Teal’c survived, grew up very quickly and made friends with all family members, but in particular with Kerstin and myself. His curiosity and urge to explore new unknown things was astonishing. Nothing would escape his notice. Everything had to be thoroughly checked and explored, which would eventually include ‘scientific’ tests like soaking and testing the impact of gravitational forces on objects of interest.

Communication Between Species

Teal’c was also very communicative, having used his language, but also beak, wings and feet to make sure his message has been understood correctly. It did always amaze us, when Teal’c was looking into our eyes and beyond, deep into our souls, as this was exactly how it felt like. He was ever so gentle, the way he communicated, showing the whole range of emotions a human could possibly show.

When he was young, it seemed that he had occasional nightmares, not being happy at all to be left alone. He had to be brought to bed, or his perch in the aviary. Gentle talking and stroking would calm him down. When he was sitting on our shoulder, then he would press his body, neck and head onto our body, until he was about to fall asleep. On the other hand, if he would not get the attention he wanted, then he would voice his disappointment and even get the odd tantrum, which also could include some gentle, well chosen, but surely noticeable physical enforcement of his desires.

Rook Teal'c is growing up quickly into an inquisitive juvenile bird. — Rook Teal’c

There are hundreds of situations and unique encounters we have had with Teal’c, but also with a variety of other bird species, all providing unequivocal proof of the highly developed intelligence and emotional life of birds in general and corvids in particular.

Time To Say Good Bye

Teal’c grew into a beautiful young Rook, far to quickly the time was passing by. He once managed to escape rather by accident then by will, but came back, as it was not the right time to depart. Late in September we eventually released the juvenile rook friends Sam, O’Neill and Teal’c. They went off together joining a local mixed corvid bachelor group. Before the three birds where about to depart, we looked again into each others eyes, and we all realised, our hearts heavy and filled with sadness, it was now the right time to let go. We knew, that we will never forget each other and that our unique bond will persist, despite us being physically separated and living our own lives.

Rook Teal'c after being released sitting in a tree and paying his previous home a visit. — Rook Teal’c

All three birds are occasionally visiting our garden, and their past temporarily home, whilst passing through on their way from the roosting trees to the fields. All three birds will start calling and interacting with us and old bird friends. But they will keep their distance, as it should be. Now they are free, back into the wild, where they belong to.

01/05/201723/01/2023

Imprinting – The Death Sentence For Orphaned Corvids

Puck is juvenile female Jackdaw, who has been raised and unintentionally imprinted by a well meaning person after being found as an orphan.

Once again it is the time of the year, when members of the public, and even sometimes inexperienced self proclaimed rescuers, find seemingly or truly orphaned nestling or fledgling corvids. Many of these people naively believe that it would be a good deed or potentially good fun to raise the baby bird by themselves. Others do the right thing, and bring the bird straight away to an experienced rehabber or rescue. Advice gets usually ignored and imprinting is pre programmed, which also means that the bird will not be fit enough to survive in the wild.

Although it is legal to rescue and raise orphaned wildlife, it is only legal when done with the intention to release the animal back to the wild as soon as he or she is independent, experienced enough and well adapted to have a very good chance of survival in the wild. Having said that, raising a corvid by his or her own will most definitely result in imprinting and is unlikely to achieve that.

The Importance of Company To Avoid Imprinting When Raising Corvids

The company of other birds of the same age, but also of adult birds is needed to learn the necessary social and survival skills. In fact, raising a corvid by his or her own means that this wild bird is intentionally imprinted. This can be regarded as an illegal act, but more importantly, it is unfair towards the bird. The bird will normally have a good chance to be released back into the wild, if he or she would have been in the hands of an experienced rehabber. These birds deserve exactly this chance, and should not be regarded as objects of experimentation or to make people feel good.

Jack is a juvenile male jackdaw, who has been raised and unintentionally imprinted. He also suffers of a cross beak, which has not being corrected in time when he was younger. — Jackdaw Jack

It is a widely known fact that corvids are extremely intelligent, curious but also destructive. This means that it will not take very long for a bored lone bird to take the household apart. This often leads at some point to painful attacks on one or the other human or pet family member, who are potential competitors in the corvid’s view. The result is that very frequently these imprinted and suddenly unwanted birds are intentionally or ‘unintentionally’ released, or brought into a wild bird rescue under the disguise of a recently rescued bird in need of help. Sadly it is also a fact, that imprinting and releasing an imprinted bird back into the wild will most likely result into the death of the bird concerned. Only a few lucky ones are found and rescued again, after being released.

Long-term Care Requirements Of Corvids

Raising corvids also often means that birds might need long-term care for a year or even longer, before they can be safely released. Long-term care of corvids requires large specialist aviaries with adequate enrichment, exposure, social interaction with wild and company corvids, space and shelter, something which can’t be done in a cage or indoors.

Previously imprinted Jackdaw Puck has been gradually transformed back into a bird capable of surviving in the wild thanks to the help of other wild and resident jackdaws. — Jackdaw Puck

For all these and some more reasons, responsible rehabbers are happily working together to exchange birds with the aim to raise them in adequate nurseries to achieve the best possible outcome for the individual concerned. Understandably, it might be tempting, seemingly easy to begin with and good fun to raise a corvid by his or her own. However, the truth is that it is simply irresponsible, selfish, and ignorant. It also clearly shows a complete lack of knowledge regarding the essential requirements a corvid and any sentient being deserves.

If you believe you are an animal lover and you are raising a lone corvid, then prove it, think twice and find an experienced rescue before it is to late. Animals are not an object nor are the anyone’s property. They are sentient beings, who have a right not to be used, abused or experimented with.