#INJURED BIRD OHIO FULL#

“Without all those people, Spike would not have had his second chance. We have a ton of visitors that come visit us from all around Ohio every single day,” Gibbons said. Some community members also donate fish and venison for the birds to eat. The Ohio Bird Sanctuary is able to care for and rehabilitate birds through community donations and entry fees. “He flew absolutely amazing, definitely beyond what we expected,” Gibbons said. Gibbons and other OBS employees watched as he soared confidently over a cornfield and faded into the horizon. on Tuesday, Spike waddled out of the carrier and took flight. “We knew if he can make the turns in the flight cage and land on those perches that he would have a chance in the wild and we wanted to give him that chance.”Īfter weeks of conditioning, employees put Spike inside a carrier and drove him back to Upper Sandusky. “From the day that we put him in the flight cage, we were pretty sure he was going to be released,” Gibbons said. Spike began circling the enclosure, successfully navigating turns and landing on perches.

Caretakers began taking him to the sanctuary’s octagonal flight path enclosure so he could fly laps. “In giving him more space, it allowed him to focus on other things so he could orient himself correctly,” Gibbons explained. “As soon as we moved him out to a larger enclosure, he was good to pick up bigger pieces of food on his own.”īy September, Spike had built up enough strength to fly back and forth inside his rectangular enclosure. Ohio Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitators (2020-2021 Permittees) Ohio Licensed Commercial Nuisance Control Operators (2020-2021) Brochure: Injured or Orphaned Wildlife What you need to know. Within a week, the staff saw his spatial awareness and coordination improve. Information regarding Orphaned and Injured Wildlife. “He was touch-and-go for a while,” Maugans said. “Every time we kind of got to that point, he would turn around and start doing well again.”Īfter weeks of intensive care, Spike was able to move to an outdoor enclosure, where he began perching and flying for a few seconds at a time. But Spike’s fighting spirit was relentless.

#INJURED BIRD OHIO FULL#

There were even times when staff thought he’d never make a full recovery and considered humane euthanasia.

The staff spent his first few weeks feeding him a liquid diet, then force feeding him tiny pieces of fish with a pair of tweezers. The bird’s neurological damage was so severe that he couldn’t walk or pick up pieces of food.

Injured bird ohio