Peregrine on the Mend

Details provided by Graham Irving

In early August 2008 an immature female peregrine, a 2007 bird, was picked up in a field in north Bucks. She had extensive damage to her primary feathers on the left wing and a substantial infection in the right foot (see photos). There was cause for concern about the cause of both sets of injuries and the bird was taken to an vet, experienced in birds of prey, for assessment and diagnoses.
The foot infection was not new, possibly anything up to a couple of months old, but it was restricting the use of the injured foot. But, the main concern was the feather damage, which is thought to have been as a result of being peppered with shotgun pellets. X rays confirmed these suspicions with about 12 pellets were revealed, mainly along the right side of the body, in the chest, wing, neck and leg.
The foot infection was operated on  and the bird put on a 10 day course of antibiotics to fight the infection. This injury was not as a result of the pellets.
The pellets were also an old injury, two that were easy to get at were removed (leg and base of tail), the remainder were left in place as they were not life threatening and removal may have injured the bird further.

The intention, is to keep her in captivity until the foot heals, before assessing her suitability for release.
 


All photos are copyright Graham Irving

"The boots" . Both feet were bandaged, so that the good foot would be unable to sustain the weight baring.   
She adapted quickly to having to adjust to having a restricted use of the feet. The toes protruding sufficiently for her to still be able to grip food, although she is currently being feed chopped.

 

1st September Update

An unscheduled visit to the vets was arranged in order to clean up the would on the infected foot.  The bird was anesthetised, the "boots" removed and the wound cleaned up and re dressed.

Unfortunately it seems that she has lost the use outside toe on the injured foot and the infection has destroyed some of the nerves involved in articulating that toe. Secondly and of greater concern for the vet, was the appearance of a large dark area of skin on the front of the injured foot above the middle toe that may turn out to be dead tissue.

The Peregrine will return to the vets in about a week, hopefully to have the dressings removed.