Escaped zoo bird caught in West Lothian industrial estate

9 April 2018

An African sacred ibis has been caught after being seen wandering around a West Lothian car park following its escape from a zoo.

The bird, which got out of its cage at the Five Sisters Zoo in West Calder, was caught six miles away in Whitehill Industrial Estate in Bathgate.

The zoo confirmed the black and white bird escaped on Friday morning.

A zoo keeper managed to catch the bird, which was hiding in a bush, after workers told them where it was.

David Wood, 60, who works at microchip company Innovative Ion Plant at the industrial estate, told the BBC Scotland news website how he had a "double-take" when he saw the bird walking past his window on Monday.

He said: "At first I thought maybe it had been blown off course, but then I realised it must have come from the zoo.

"I don't want to attempt to catch it because it has a very pointy beak.

"Seagulls were swooping at it this morning to protect their patch but luckily it's still ok."

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UK zoo owner convicted of allowing invasive species to escape

The owner of South Lakes Wild Animal Park (SLWAP) in Cumbria, David Stanley Gill, along with the zoo itself, has been convicted of allowing an invasive bird species to escape, contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec. 14(1).

In July 2013 last year a Sacred Ibis had been sighted on the Cumbrian coast in the region of Dalton-in-Furness a number of times. An expert ornithologist working for Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) established it was the Sacred Ibis and the birds were originating from SLWAP.

The Sacred Ibis does not occur naturally in Great Britain, and if it was allowed to colonise it would pose a significant threat to the natural fauna of Britain. As such it is one of only a handful of species that the government has put an action plan in place to deal with if it does colonise. 

The case was then picked up by officers from Cumbria Police and the NWCU, who with APHA, searched the zoo. During the visit officers found a large open enclosure housing just 27 Sacred Ibis, when the zoo’s records indicated that there should be 36. The officers also witnessed and filmed the birds flying out to the park. 

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