Posted just last night on Sydney Sea Eagle Cam FB page
"4 Jan 2023 - An update regarding our juvenile sea eagles. We are sad to report that SE29 has not survived, even after excellent care from the team at Raptor Recovery Australia (RRA). We are pleased to advise however, that the other juvenile SE30 is doing very well and gaining in strength and experience. SE30 is in care at RRA after initially being nursed back to health by the Taronga Zoo Wildlife Hospital.
Raptor Recovery Australia
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𝐀𝐧 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐄𝟐𝟗 🦅
As you know SE29 was rescued in early October, after some sort of severe trauma (we are not sure if he flew into a window or was hit by a car).
When he arrived he was bleeding from inside the beak indicating a bleed in the lung following the trauma. He also suffered a particularly nasty fracture just above the foot, which you can see in the radiograph attached to this post. The challenge about this fracture is firstly, that it is quite oblique, and secondly, that it is very far down in the bone, making the orthopaedic repair required quite difficult.
While stabilising and after consultation with many other raptor veterinarians around the world, we initially tried to stabilise the foot in a special cast. But it became apparent quite soon that due to the oblique nature of the fracture the fragments just could not be immobilised properly and there was still some sliding.
Normally these fractures in birds are repaired with an external fixation device. This involves crossbars through the bone which are connected and held in position by external rods. The goal is to have two crossbars in each fragment of the bone. We knew that trying to repair this fracture would be a push, because of the little room left for us in the fragment closer to the foot.
But SE29 was a young bird (this helps with healing) and he was dealing well with the process of being in care, having a generally gentle demeanour, so repair was attempted) and we placed a type 2 external fixation device. You can see on the picture what this structure looks like.
We then had to wait for the bone to mend until we could remove the pins. During this whole process SE29 has been a gentle, strong bird and has allowed us to take him through the rehabilitation process.
However, we have promised ourselves, we would only persevere with his rehabilitation if there was a reasonable chance for SE29 to return into the wild. This is where he came from, and the life of freedom is what he should have if we could make it so.
Two months into the rehabilitation process, the external fixation device was removed and it became clear that some of the tendons making the digits move did not work normally any more, and possibly there was some joint damage at the tarsometatarsal - phalanx 1 joint.
The foot is a structure a raptor just cannot live without, and we had to accept that our attempts had not worked out as we hoped. We knew it was a push from the start (again, this was a very unfavourable fracture), but SE29 had just been doing so well until then and he made us hope even more it would work out in the end. Unfortunately at this point it became clear, SE29 would not be able to be released and he was euthanased for the reasons described above.
Much like all of you, who fell in love with this little bird from since he was an egg, working with him and getting to know him also allowed him to take a very special place in our hearts and sharing these news fills us with sadness. But we are glad that we did give this bird a chance, because otherwise we would have never known.
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Topic: White Bellied Sea Eagle, Sydney Cam (Read 132629 times)