Wednesday, July 25, 2012

UPDATE 4 of the day-- FROM THE HORVATHS/WINORR CONCERNING SICK FLEDGLING,


HERE IS THE MOST RECENT UPDATE FROM THE HORVATHS concerning sick fledgling/Trooper
 
 "The blood results from the Fifth Avenue fledgling show significant anemia most likely due to ingestion of poison. The type is unknown and there are warfarin based toxins which can be either short or long acting but requiring continued care and vitamin K injections to fight the effects the poison has in depleting vitamin k and clotting ability in the body. Some animals can show initial improvement only to bleed out later depending on the amount of toxin ingested so we will treat for at least 10 days and if it survives release back where he came from. He is still young and dependant on his parents at this stage. Any other options for release such as the suburbs where we live also have poisons used at golf courses, cemetaries and parks so the same dangers exist outside the city as well. As long as the remaining sibling has an appetite and continues to feed it is possible to survive without treatment depending on the level of toxicity in its body and how its organs handle it. Our hawk is appearing to improve but with any wild animal they attempt to mask illness as best they can as it is a sign of weakness and may leave them vulnerable to fall prey if they leave their guard down."
 
 Hawk-watchers in Central Park have been maintaining a nearly constant vigil (each in their own 'shift' so to speak) near the sick fledgling in the park. The fledgling is still rather motionless in the tree it last flew to.
 
 A pair of the faithful Hawk-watchers asked a responding park ranger (who is very concerned for the Hawk and who has stayed by its tree for hours) if it would be all right to buy frozen mice from a local pet supplies store to leave for the sick fledgling in the hopes it would come down to eat them.
 
 The ranger permitted the food drop. So far the fledgling has not eaten the food but hopes remain somewhat high that it will do so by the end of the day.
 
As I said earlier, she's not out of the woods yet but she has great will and is being a trooper!

In fact though she's ill I don't want to call her "sick fledgling" anymore..  I  think Trooper would be a fitting handle for her.

4 comments:

gigi said...

Thank you Donegal. I agree. Trooper is a fabulous name! Thanks for the update.

Donegal Browne said...

Thanks Gigi!

She truly is a Trooper!

Mary Reinertsen said...

Thank you for the postings. I tune in every morning hoping for good news. Yesterday afternoon Trooper didn't look very well on her/his perch. I wonder what he makes of all the onlookers sitting on the wall. It would be nice to think he gets some companionship. One question though; where have his parents been during all this?

Donegal Browne said...

Mary, these being city hawks, I suspect that Trooper sees us as part of the landscape of her world. Perhaps we are occasionally interesting and even companionable. From his behavior Pale Male finds us so. He often does a fly-over hello for people, like Marie Winn,or even myself sometimes, that he knows well when he sees us sit down on the Hawk Bench.

Pale Male was spotted watching Trooper the sick fledge on the 26th. Zena has been pretty scarse ever since the fledglings left the nest. She has been seen but rarely since.

As to where they were today, perhaps looking far afield for the other two fledglings? I have every faith that if the two sick fledglings can be saved they will be by the Horvaths and when ready promptly brought back and released in Pale Male's territory.

Things are looking up!