Hadada Ibis Suffers Dog Attack

The following story about a hadada ibis was submitted by Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital in South Africa.

A hadada ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) was found in a garden and was kindly brought to us. A medical examination suggests that this poor bird was bitten by a dog, resulting in multiple puncture wounds on his right thigh and most of his flight feathers missing on the same wing.

The bird was anaesthetized, the wound was cleaned well, and the injury was partially sutured closed in order to enable it to drain. Dog and cat bites often get badly infected and sometimes only days later pus starts to drain from the wound.

So far, he is healing well. Initially he was tube-fed with EmerAid IC Carnivore, but now he is predominantly eating on his own.

We are optimistic of a full recovery, and he will go back to where he came from, except this time in the neighbor’s garden, with no dogs.