Call in the bird man...

There are at least 3 or 4 wild birds brought into the Banos Del Carmen Vet Clinic DAILY. Yes, every day. 

The locals and authorities in Malaga know that Agustin is the man when it comes to a sick or injured bird. The clinic is constantly crowded with birds on the mend, birds being operated on and strapped up wings. 

This pigeon was brought in when a local resident saw her on the street unable to fly. One wing clearly wasn't working and was thought to be broken. She was suffering when trying to fly and wasn't getting anywhere. 

 Agustin took an x-ray of her wing and found out that she had in fact been SHOT by a pellet. The pellet was now wedged in and if left could lead to infection. 

 She was operated on and Agustin and his team took care of her until she made a full recovery.

He then let her back into the wild, and we can only hope she's living happily ever after. 

However, it's not always a happy ending. There has been an increase in Seagulls being brought to Agustin over the last year, and the mystery is still unsolved. Most seagulls being brought in are acting as though they have been poisoned. 

He is working with Barcelona University along with another laboratory to try and find out what is happening to the seagulls. Blood tests from both the survivors and the birds that didn't make it have been sent off for examination, but the results don't give much away.  

Its still unclear, but they think it might be a bacterial issue, however it could also be contaminated fish that they've eaten or even plastic or pollution from the ocean. 

There are four type of seagulls. Two of the breeds don't eat garbage, which would be a usual suspect of where they've picked something up. Yet they're all showing symptoms of poisoning. 

There was a returning customer to the clinic this week. A seagull brought in with the same symptoms last year is back. He was tagged upon release in 2019 to try and help understand the problem.  

The antibiotics usually work and has a 90% success rate to date. We just hope they get to the bottom of it soon then maybe Agustin can be left to do his job on paying patients. 

Ways you can help protect wild birds:  

 - Always cut the plastic rings from beer can holders. Birds and other creatures get stuck inside and die. 

- Put water out for them in the summer when its hot. 

- Don't use pesticides in the garden. It poisons birds. it also eliminates the bugs and insects which ruins the eco system. This creates a chain reaction, no bugs = no birds. 

- Put bird feed out. 

 

If you would like to donate to the Banos del Carmen vet clinic, you can do so below.