Injuries, Poor Condition, And Mites Drag Down A Northern Gannet

The following story about a Northern gannet was shared with us by Clinic For The Rehabilitation Of Wildlife in Florida.

On April 7, 2021, a young Northern gannet was admitted to the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife after being found down and depressed on Fort Myers Beach.

Upon arrival to the CROW clinic, veterinarians found a treble hook (three hooks with a single eye) embedded in its right antebrachium and a wound on the ventrum (abdomen). The bird was in very poor overall condition, it was emaciated with a heavy feather mite load. Initial weight was 1.72kilograms (about 3.8 pounds) with a body condition score (BCS) of 1/5. It was started on pain meds and antibiotics.

We suspect it was unable to fly with the injury to its wing and was consequently unable to hunt for food. The hook in the wing was removed and the bird underwent surgery to clean up and close the wound on the ventrum.

Vet staff started the bird on a refeeding plan due to its poor body condition. We began feeding EmerAid IC Piscivore at 3% of the bird’s body weight and slowly increased to 5% body weight. The gannet tolerated the feeds well, and we were soon able to transition to feeding whole fish.

This is a pelagic species that spends most of its time far out at sea. They are not adapted to spending much time on land, so keeping their waterproofing is very challenging. They need adequate time spent in water and also need to be housed on a netting that prevents pressure sores on their keels. He also needed to be dry docked for the first days due to the wound on his ventrum.

Ultimately we were able to get him to a point where his wound had healed nicely while retaining his waterproofing. He was taking whole fish feeds and his weight had increased to 2.04 kilograms (about 4.5 pounds) . He had a healthy BCS.

After 12 days, the gannet improved so well that staff made the decision to release him. On April 12, 2021, the northern gannet was released back into an area with a known colony of other gannets near Marco Island.