Urgent Help Needed Please

[guardian]

Dear All, please can anybody help me....

My daughter's boyfriend brought me a wild pidgeon that he found at the side of the road, it clearly has a broken left leg but is otherwise ok.

At the moment I'm caring for it in a hamster cage, it seems alert and its eyes are bright but I don't know what to do about the leg.

The foot is cold so the circulation is damaged and the leg just dangles. In the normal course of events the bird probably would have died eventually but I can't bring myself to kill anything.

I'm sure a vet wouldn't touch it and anyway I can't afford vets fees and there's no access to the SSPCA where I live.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.


Guardian

[GuyF]

I think that perhaps the best thing to do would be to make sure that it is alert and fairly strong and then release it somewhere. Hopefully the broken left leg won't be too much of a problem to it. In the garden in the past I've had a few birds which only had use of one leg and they all seemed to manage fine, I think that in the end they'll just adapt to using one leg. I had a Woodpigeon last year that couldn't use one of its legs for some reason, it used to feed from the feeding station but it would just lay down instead of standing up, and it could still perch on the fence and things so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
So I think, as long as it can fly, releasing it is the best option. Otherwise, if you don't want to do that other people may be able to give information about wildlife centres that might take it in.
Guy

[guardian]

Hey Guy

Thanks very much for getting back to me.

I would very much like to release it back to the wild, it does seem to be improving but I fear the leg will be useless to it. I only hope it doesn't get gangrene or something.

I'll be watching closely, I'm feeding and watering it and it's in comfort so here's hoping. As soon as it looks fit I'll release it.

I just needed some reassurance about what was the best course of action and you've helped a lot, thank you.

regards

Guardian

[matt_xyz]

I would do one of 2 things; either release back into the wild as suggested above, particularly if you think the bird may be able to feed OK. Alternatively I would try to contact a wildlife shelter/sanctuary i.e the sort of places that try to treat injured wildlife. Of course there may not be anywhere suitable in your area.

Well done for helping the bird as much as you could.

Matt

[mrs fish]

I take injured birds to the vets, the rspca told me that vets will see wild animals and birds for free, so that is what I do if they are injured.

[zharca]

Hi, my worry is that if the leg isn't getting proper circulation then it will eventually become infected.

I would take Mrs F's advice and at least contact a local vet, who might treat or amputate it.

My vets have done free work for me when I've showed up with a rescued pet (they should do, I've handed over the equivalent of the GNP of a small African country in fees over the years)

[guardian]

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice.

Yesterday I opened the cage outside and birdy flew easily back into the potting shed where I was looking after him/her. It seemed to gain confidence quickly.

As the day went on the bird practiced flight and although the leg still looked dodgy it didn't seem to cause the bird any anxiety.

Later, it flew away, hopefully it will thrive.

Guardian