Deadly week

This was definitely not a good week for wildlife at LWR. Of five intakes, four required euthanasia and one was DOA—not the start one would hope for in a new year...

Tuesday evening, a barred owl came in from a county just south of LWR. He favored his left wing in the box, and on exam, it felt “crunchy” at the wrist.  The same day, a Canada goose came in from an incompetent out-of-county vet, so I knew both birds would need to see my vets at Smalley’s the next day.

Wednesday morning, a vet clinic from a county just north of LWR called; a client had brought in a barred owl. My volunteer transporters met me at Smalley’s with that bird.
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Both barred owls had compression fractures at the wrist, both on the left side. Basically, the bones were broken and shoved up and under each other into a jumbled, unfixable mess. Both owls required euthanasia.

Right wing x-ray is for comparison, so you can see what a normal wrist looks like, as opposed to the jumbled mess in the left wrist.

Again, right wing x-ray is for comparative purposes.

The goose had been with the incompetent vet who wrapped a “jigsaw puzzle” shattered wing on a merlin in December—remember that? Knowing her history of gross incompetence, I shuddered to see how she’d screwed up the goose—and she had, royally.

She’d pinned an UNBROKEN leg. Yeah, you read that right—she pinned an UNBROKEN leg. And then wrapped a gem clip around it for good measure, all topped off with a heavy layer of surgical tape. I kid you not; see the photos and x-rays below. Vets Richie Hatcher and Peggy Hobby were mystified as to her reasoning—if, indeed, there was actually any reasoning involved, which I highly doubt. (And yes, she’s been reported to GA DNR and US FWS.)
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The poor goose had neurological damage in that leg, which Richie figured was probably present on intake, and she was rail-thin, with pressure sores already scabbed over on her prominent keel. Given her lack of any neural response in that leg or foot, euthanasia was again required.

Thursday evening, a second-year red-shouldered hawk came in; her rescuer had seen the 18-wheeler in front of her hit the bird. She said the hawk was flying so low that the truck driver probably didn’t see her. The hawk was lethargic and listless, so much so that I honestly didn’t expect her to survive the night, but she did, so we were off to Smalley’s again Friday, where x-rays showed no fractures and no clouding on the x-ray that would indicate fluid buildup typical of internal bleeding.  She was also quite thin and cast a pellet consisting of lizard skins and insect exoskeletons, meaning she’d been struggling to find food. Head trauma and/or nerve damage were, of course, distinct options, so we opted for more steroids (I’d given her a steroid injection on intake the evening before) and time to see what she’d do.  
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She died, is what she did. It’s one of the most frustrating aspects of wildlife rehab, when you see that a bird is struggling but you can’t pinpoint a reason for it, so you opt to give them a little extra time to see how they respond to meds…and they respond by checking out on you…

​And the very next morning, Saturday, an adult male red-shoulder came in after being cut from an electric fence. Yeah, you read that right, too—an electric fence, not a barbed wire fence. The people who cut him loose had the good sense to cut the wire rather than the bird, unlike some folks in the recent past, so when the transporter arrived with the bird, he had a good six inches of wire protruding from  the top of his wing. All I could initially figure was he’d hit the wire and come close to shearing his wing off—it’s happened before.

​Off we headed to Smalley’s again, where x-rays showed that two ends of the fence wire had been looped when it was strung, and the luckless red shoulder had hit the looped ends, breaking his radius right at the elbow in the process. 

​Richie said the poor bird probably hit the loop, which initially snagged in the flesh, slinging him around and embedding deeper and allowing the straight portion of the wire to pop against the bone, breaking it. Again, this was an unfixable fracture—it was too close to the joint. This poor bird was also euthanized. The photos below were taken after euthanasia.

​The male red-tail is due for a second follow-up x-ray soon; the female’s attempted release didn’t go well. She apparently has soft tissue damage—remember, her x-rays showed no fractures—and needs time in the flight pen to see if it will heal to allow flight.

However…she won’t get that time in the flight until the barnies can be released around early March, so I guess she’ll hang around and be a “buddy” to the male RT, so both can go into the raptor flight together in another month or so.
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Speaking of the barnies, they’re still as gorgeous and goofy as ever…

​…as are the flyers.

​And ending on a much more upbeat note than we started with, the screech was released and was quite happy to leave the LWR B&B.