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"The greatness
of a
nation and its moral
progress can be judged
by the way its animals
are treated." -- Gandhi |
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Purple
Gallinule Blog |
Blog Index:
General
information
Nov 9, 2005, Purple Gallinule with broken leg.
Dec 2,
2005, cast of the broken upper leg was removed
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Date: 20051109
Title: Purple Gallinule found with a broken leg
On November 9, 2005, a rare bird called
a Purple Gallinule
was found on cruiseship Adventure of The Seas at the megapier in
Curacao and delivered to a Curacao Wildlife volunteer. This bird
suffered from a broken leg. After careful examination by
veterinarian Odette Doest, who
is specialized in avian medical care,
the upper leg of the bird was put in a special waterproof cast for
avians. While in this cast, the bird can still catch live food
in water trays containing live food, without weakening the
cast's structure. (dutch: gips).
Thereafter the bird was brought to a medical housing facility
and put in a wire mesh cage with newspaper bottom which is
cleaned twice daily. Fine mosquito mesh is wrapped around the
cage to prevent the transfer of any possible presence of disease via biting mosquitoes.
The from mosquito to avian transmitted disease that is a concern is
called the West Nile Virus. This disease is thus far only
present in the northern caribbean islands, and in southern USA
and Mexico. This should not be confused with the Chinese Avian
flu, which is something else and is not present in the
Caribbean or USA and Mexico.
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Date: 20051110
Title: Now the fun part: identification. Uhm hmm?
In order to give the bird a proper diet to ensure fast
healing of its injury and its survival during its temporary
stay, we need to identify this bird today. Initially we
thought yesterday that it was a common moorhen or a coot.
Veterinarian Odette Doest from Curacao and I researched
through a few bird bibles and determined that it could be a
Purple Gallinule, but we were not sure, because the drawings
were not perfect. Positive identity was finally attained
thanks to Rogier Kuil of Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public
works and Water Management of Holland, who emailed us the
links to websites with photos of immature and adult Purple
Gallinules.
Veterinarian Odette Doest has already given the bird a
complete meal consisting of a special porridge (dutch: papje)
tonight for insect/meat/fruit eating avians by pumping the
food into its stomach. So tomorrow we face the task of
harvesting its food from the wild.
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Date: 20051111
Title: Hey Kermit where art thou?
Today, I collected from small ponds in Kabouterbos, Rust
en Burgh (Asiento), Girouette, and Zuikertuintje a few
tadpoles and frogs, libelles, matroos cockroaches, and other
insects, and from underneath the bark of dead manzalina trees
(aka Poison Apple Tree)
I collected 2-4 cm long white insect larvae, and two
salamanders.
Last night Veterinarian Odette Doest force-fed this bird with
Veterinarian avian food, because it had not eaten in a few
days. Prior it refused to eat from trays with whole and cut up
masbangu, whole and cut up kibbeling, shrimp, snails, fruit,
seeds, and small kaku lizards,... but a few minutes ago, the
bird enjoyed a feast. It went straight for the insect larvae,
next it snatched the frogs from my glove, but it did not care
much for the cockroaches. As for the tadpoles approx 7 out of
31 are still swimming in the tray. The bird is probably full
now... The libelles are enjoying freedom because they
escaped...
Two weeks from now the cast will come off and we are keeping
our fingers crossed that the fracture will heal properly. The
bird is getting physical therapy twice per day and already it
is regaining strength in the wounded leg as it grips my
fingers with its toes.
After the bird has healed, and regained strength and full
motion in its injured leg, it will be released back into one
of the protected wetland habitats of Curacao.
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Continue
reading blog >Dec 2, 2005 > cast removed > click here |
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