Injured whitethroat gets cardboard and tape casts at Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital
Leicestershire: A whitethroat hit by a car is making a good recovery thanks to a rather curious rehabilitation procedure — tiny casts made of cardboard and tape.
The bird was found last Saturday by a couple lying stunned in the road following a collision. They called Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital and brought the bird in.
Staff found his feet were curled up and unable to grip, likely due to nerve or ligament damage. To help him stand while they healed, the hospital team designed specially-built casts from cardboard, cotton wool and micropore tape.“We put a little bit of cotton wool between the feet and the cardboard to add a bit of cushioning and then use micropore tape to secure them,” said Amy Blower at the Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital. “It seems to be doing the trick and he is making a good recovery.”
Blower said the technique has been used before with other baby birds, usually for nutritional deficiencies, but this is the first time for a whitethroat.“Other than the issue with his feet he was uninjured so we’ll release him hopefully in a few days when he is better,” she added.
Whitethroats are summer visitors to the UK and migrate from Africa. They are listed as an amber species of conservation concern, meaning they require monitoring.
The hospital said the bird is progressing well and should be released back into the wild once fully recovered.
