A Greenslopes veterinary clinic, Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Services, displayed expert skills in their feat to save an injured tawny frogmouth. The clinic expertly performed a feather transplant to help the injured bird fly again!
The wild tawny frogmouth was recently found tangled in a barbed wire fence at Jimboomba, south-west of Brisbane. Upon hearing the incident, an experienced wildlife carer came to the rescue and carefully untangled the bird’s wing from the barbed wire fence and brought him to the Greenslopes Veterinary Clinic.
The fence had severely damaged the bird’s wing making it unable to fly. If not treated properly, the bird will not survive in the wild, as waiting for the natural healing of its feathers will take months of rehabilitation.
The tawny frogmouth named Koura was immediately treated upon its arrival to the clinic. Radiographs have shown that the injured wing was not fractured, however, the bird needed feather transplants for it to be able to fly again.
Fortunately, donor feathers were available in the clinic and an expert vet was able to perform an imping (implant) procedure. The procedure involved delicately cutting off the damaged feathers and implanting the donor feathers in place.
The tawny frogmouth was able to fly immediately after the procedure and was then released back into the wild after a few days.
Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Services has documented the details of the procedure on their Facebook page and hopes that the bird “doesn’t get himself stuck in any more tricky situations”.
