As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.
posted Jan 31, 2014 at 9:00 AM— updated Feb 1, 2014 at 2:13 PM
Bunker walks gracefully and confidently around his pen, one foot planted firmly in front of the other, his head held high.
It's only on closer inspection that one would question how he is able to maneuver so effortlessly.
The rare sandhill crane's right limb is supported by a long black plastic piece – a prosthetic device that replaces the portion of his leg that had to be amputated last year after he was wounded on a golf course.
Bunker has been recovering for almost a year, and it was only in December that a more permanent solution was found for his disability.
Now, Abbotsford veterinarian Dr. Ken Macquisten and Elizabeth Melnick of Elizabeth's Wildlife Center(in photo below) anticipate being able to eventually release the bird to his natural habitat.
"He is using the leg very well and seems to be comfortable. It is giving us some reason to be a tiny bit more optimistic that he might be the first bird to ever be returned to the wild with a prosthesis," Macquisten said.
A sandhill crane, a rare sight in the Lower Mainland, is
standing up again after losing a leg in an accident at a Richmond, B.C., golf course.
Elizabeth Melnick, who runs a non-profit wildlife
rehabilitation centre in Abbotsford, said the bird's leg was shattered in early
March when it was struck by a stray golf ball.
'He's unusually tame for a wild bird.'—Dr. Ken MacQuisten
"The crane was brought in because he was hit by a
golf ball and his lower leg was shattered, so the vet, Dr. Ken MacQuisten,
tried to see if it would work possibly with surgery," she said.
"It just wasn't a go. So [MacQuisten] decided to amputate
the lower leg and now he's getting a prosthesis put in."
MacQuisten said the leg was badly broken and the limb had
died by the time the crane was captured.
"It took about five days to catch him and bring him
into the veterinary hospital. So, we had to amputate the foot and now we've
fitted him with a prosthesis so that he can balance and walk with it,"
MacQuisten said.
This juvenile sandhill crane is about the size of a great blue
heron. (CBC)
MacQuisten fitted the bird with a temporary limb for now.
He says a permanent prosthetic leg will be attached once the stump is fully
healed.
According to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta, sandhill
cranes typically migrate through the central prairies and winter in the
southern U.S.
states, and in B.C. some cranes pass through the central interior.
But a small number of sandhill cranes have been living in
the Lower Mainland after a pair of captive-hatched birds were released in the
area over 30 years ago. The tame birds never reproduced, but they did attract
wild sandhill cranes to settle in the region.
In the 27 years Melnick has been running her shelter, she
has never come across one before.
MacQuisten also said the crane was a rare subject to work
with for other reasons.
"This is a very unusual patient," MacQuisten
said. "He's unusual in the sense that there are very few sandhill cranes
in the Lower Mainland, here, but he's unusually tame for a wild bird,"
MacQuisten said.
"He makes a great subject to see if we can do
something to help him with the ultimate goal of sending him back out onto the
golf course."
