Today I cried again. I cried because I had to make the decision to
euthanize another vulture. Why cry you
ask? Well let me explain.
This unfortunate Cape vulture ‘survived’ a
bolt of electricity that shot through his body as he landed on the Eskom T
structure. This must have kicked him so hard that he was knocked out
unconscious and landed with full force on the ground, temporarily paralysing
him. His adult mate flying with him did
not survive and was found dead under the structure.
I collected him on a farm between Elliot
and Ugie in the Eastern Cape, where he lay on his belly next to chickens in a
fowl run. He did not look good and my
gut feeling was he had damaged his spine or pelvis. I carefully loaded him on extra cushions to
soften his journey of more than 2 hours over the gravel roads back home. I travelled slowly over the rough terrain as
I was carrying a very fragile patient.
Back home we rehydrated him and injected him with painkillers but he
would have to endure another 70km gravel road trip to the vet and back to have
x rays done to ascertain if there was a spinal injury or not. He did not look good and hardly put up a
fight (a sure sign of a bird wanting to survive) and I seriously thought it was
touch and go if he would pull through.
His xrays revealed no fractures and he had
definite signs of feeling in both feet, so the process of trying to get him
regain the use of his leg had to start.
This required him being put into a sling which is a modified baby
carrier, with therapy on his legs every day.
By day 3 he still had not shown any inclination to eat and we then had
to tube feed him to help him regain his appetite. This worked and he ate from then onwards.
His routine every day was getting him out
off his soft cushions, therapy, into the baby pram for the morning and then
repeat in the afternoon. He slept in my
pantry in his crate at night to stay warm.
Every morning he would look at me in the eye and I would ask him if he
would be able to do this. When we were
working his legs he would just patiently close his eyes and wait for the
session to finish. I often wondered what
was going through his mind.
He sat quietly in his ‘pram’ initially but
towards the end he fought hard not to be put back into the pram. I know he was frustrated and I had to devise
a method to stop him wriggling his way out of the carrier by using a dog lead
to tighten the gap in the front section.
One day he had managed to loosen this lead and I found him with it
around his neck as if he was going for a walk.
We had a glimmer of hope at one stage where
he seemed to pull his legs underneath him but towards the end he would just
drag them behind him pulling himself along on his wings. You see there was nothing wrong with his
wings and this was so hard to see. That
is when I realized that I would have to make the dreaded call.
So today I cried because….....
deep down you know that this is assisting
reducing an already endangered species, deep down you were so hoping to see him
pull his legs underneath himself and lift himself up to be able to stand again,
deep down you wanted so badly to see this guy take to the skies again …… so even if he was “Just another Vulture” for
some, I cried because dam it hurts and I failed him!
PLEASE NOTE:
I would never cope with all of this emotionally
and financially (specifically in this order) if it were not for the support of
Kerri Wolter of VulPro (www.Vulpro.com). She has guided
me through many of these rehabilitation cases, taken on my badly injured birds,
shared her expertise in assisting with all the vultures I have collected all
over the Eastern Cape and Southern Free State.
More importantly she has also understood and supported me through all
these tough calls and knows exactly how it hurts.
Thank you Kerri for always understanding.
In Memory of all the vultures we have lost
to this planet, may your soar free of pain and mankind.
