Cattle Egret

This patient of the CWRC was one of our best success stories. This bird was found on the southern shore of NS in November of 2002. He was brought to the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park and was then transferred to CWRC for medical care and rehabilitation. This bird had a broken wing and was in a state of starvation. Dr Van Doninck and Dr. Hildebrand repaired the wing with a steel pin and this bird recuperated at CWRC for 8 weeks while his wing healed. He ate fish donated by the aquaculture unit at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, as well as mealworms and crickets. After 4 weeks the fracture was healed and the pin was removed. He also had another minor surgery for a facial lesion sustained in his original injury.

Egrets are still considered uncommon in Nova Scotia but are often seen from March - September. Considering the time of year and extended recuperation time necessary, we decided to return him to Florida to continue healing and to be eventually released. Once the appropriate paperwork was secured, he was shipped by plane to Florida in January 2003. He was accepted by a rehabilitation centre in the Florida Keys and was later released. For more information on this patient, please see the article in The Quill, Issue 2.