A Step Away From Death - A pair of shoes can do wonders for paralyzed magpies

Fighting to save Australia’s black-and-white birds

A mystery illness is afflicting black and white birds throughout Australia, especially Magpies and Currawongs. In response, the Mandurah Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is using an interesting technique to help at least some of the birds back to health.

Black & White disease

The sickness has shown up on the east coast and there have been several cases recorded in Perth during last summer, but Mandurah Wildlife has already been encountering cases for a couple of years.

Supervisor, Giulia, says the ailment effects Butcher Birds, Magpie Larks, Cuckoo Shrikes, and most commonly Magpies, which is a little strange as these species are not closely related but are showing the same symptoms.

Giulia, who recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Western Australia, said that the source of the disease is yet to be identified. It could be a parasite, or a neurological syndrome, or the result of a yet to be identified industrial toxin.

‘When the birds first come in, it’s a coin toss as to whether they will live or die’, said Giulia. Afflicted birds typically present as lethargic, with their feet tucked up underneath them, knuckles often raw from the birds trying to walk on curled, paralysed feet. They just lie at the bottom of the cage and many suffer from diarrhoea.

If they can be kept alive for three days through force feeding there is a chance they will survive.

Innovative Solution: Shoes can keep them alive

Supervisor Fiona (Fi) was on shift one morning when Comet Bay Veterinary

Hospital called to say that had a sick magpie who they thought was suffering from the mysterious black and white disease.

When the bird arrived at the Centre, Fi soon confirmed it was black and white disease and immediately started fitting the sick bird’s feet with boots fashioned from aluminium and foam splinting material, and a bandage. A core symptom of this disease is that the feet curl up under the body leaving the bird unable to stand or feed itself.

Fi knew that it was critical to get the bird back onto its feet as soon as possible because if the feet curl up and are left for too long, the tendons atrophy and this makes recovery very difficult.

Learning to walk

While the bird was still re-learning to walk, it was placed on a circular nest made from a towel so that its legs could hang down with its rear end hanging over the end. A symptom of the disease is diarrhoea, and this arrangement prevents the bird having contact with faces that may contain pathogens that may be a cause of the disease.

During the early phase of treatment, the bird also had to be force fed, while others may need to be injected with vitamin supplements as well.

Recovery

The recovery period for this bird was about 6 weeks, which is particularly long. Fi knew this was potentially a problem. Mobs move on and if the bird is released into the wrong mob, it will not survive.

Releasing back into the wild has to be done carefully

On the morning of the release Fi and her team arrived at the location where the bird was found and laid the cage on the ground. This way, she could observe if the magpies that were present were friendly or aggressive towards the recovered bird.

Soon two female magpies noticed the cage, and they flew down with one settling on top of the cage. Some chortling was exchanged and seeing that they were friendly, the door to the cage opened. The newly released magpie flew up to a tree and sat on a branch, where he was soon joined by one of the female maggies and the rest, as they say, happily is history.