Juju, the toughest Crow in the world!

WARNING! This story is rather graphic...

My friend has a city forestry job and while doing her job comes across many animals that get knocked from the trees and need fostering.
We have taken care of a variety of baby birds and injured animals over the years and we have many friends that will just call me and my boyfriend and report an animal in need. We are an underground leigon of wildlife rehabilitators:D

So about a month ago she calls me and says "Hey you'll never guess what I have in my lap!" (i told her long ago if she ever finds a crow that would be really awesome.) "A Crow!"
She saw him hobbling around on the property she was working at, she saw his wing was broken and had to run him down. The crow was VERY alert and elusive and only when he got caught up in a bush was she able to grab him.
So she dropped him off with his wing bound to his body with cloth.
His wing was worse than we had thought.
Think of a human arm because a birds wing works about the same way.
pretend your fingers are primary flight feathers and the back of your arm to your elbow are secondary flights. So this poor crow had broken his bones just below the "wrist". Bones were poking through the skin and infection had started. The wound smelled of rotting meat and who knows how long this crow had the injury.
We have successfully amputated birds limbs before (I have a cockatiel without a foot and he gets around like a champ.)

We are NOT vets, we have no medical background but it was either do what we could for this bird or the infection would surely take his life.
So to make it short and less graphic we amputated behind his broken bones and cauterized the open skin. The bleeding was very minimal i think because the skin and meat were dying in that area already.

So after we got him all bandaged up we checked him for external parasites, which suprisingly he looked great. Usually crows are quite infested.
We treated him for mites and worms and gave him an oral antibiotic.
Its been almost a month and Juju is doing awesome. He gets around very well without a wing and explores the room he stays in. He is our little buddy.
We have an injured pigeon as well that could never be realeased, he follows us around the house so Juju will fit in with us just fine. :D
Thanks for reading Juju's story.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...2_133659_n.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x..._6942516_n.jpg

Poor fella, hope he continues to heal up for you and fits in well with your household.

It's good to know that he's got a good home.

I had a pet crow when I was a kid and they are awesome! They become affectionate towards their human keepers and learn all sorts of things, some you wish they hadn't. Ours learned to cuss somehow. (hanging out with my father when he worked on cars and tractors) He would hang out with us for hours and seemed to crave company.

He is not a juvi for sure and he is full of piss and vinegar.
Hes definitly not used to being caged yet. I really kind of feel bad for him because he doesnt understand why hes in a house and caged. We let him out of his cage daily to explore his room and get some exercise. He doesnt seem to like us yet. But thats ok, he doesnt need to be tame to be loved. :D

At least he has a chance with you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mues155

We are NOT vets, we have no medical background but it was either do what we could for this bird or the infection would surely take his life.
So to make it short and less graphic we amputated behind his broken bones and cauterized the open skin. The bleeding was very minimal i think because the skin and meat were dying in that area already.

---

Not to seem rude or anything, but you amputated his wing YOURSELF and you have no medical background and are not a vet??? I'm glad he is doing better now, but you'll have to forgive me if I find this to be a little sketchy. :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AK907

Not to seem rude or anything, but you amputated his wing YOURSELF and you have no medical background and are not a vet??? I'm glad he is doing better now, but you'll have to forgive me if I find this to be a little sketchy. :confused:

---

I'm not a vet, but when I realized one of my Anoles a long time ago had a broken jaw and became very weak, I put him down.

IMO, quality of life outweighed the bird being put down. I don't have a problem with what they did, especially to see that the bird is doing well.

Good on you guys for rescuing him.

Sometimes when you know exactly what and why a vet will do, the same thing can be done at home with the correct knowledge. Vets will say that if a rehab bird cannot fly then it has to be put down. Or if a hatchling ball is born with a defect like heart, or other organs outside of the body they must be put down. I would rather them try and to not have their minds made up already. Some will try and you'll be paying a kidney for them to do it. Sometimes even vets do the wrong thing or cannot/will not fix an animal. Sometimes bringing an animal to the vet is to the detriment of the animal.

Expertise can come on many levels. You obviously did something right for that little guy to be ok now. Great job!
If you know what to do.. Do it. It may just be the difference between life and death.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AK907

Not to seem rude or anything, but you amputated his wing YOURSELF and you have no medical background and are not a vet??? I'm glad he is doing better now, but you'll have to forgive me if I find this to be a little sketchy. :confused:

---

Well there were a few options for this bird...

1. Crow lives on its own with a broken wing on the ground until caught by a cat, run over by a car, or the infection eventually takes hold of him. He dies.

2. We try and help him, we amputate the wing and with our experience in doing minor surgeries to help various animals we feel confident and go through with it. He dies

3. We try and help him, we amputate the wing and with our experience in doing minor surgeries to help various animals we feel confident and go through with it. He lives.

3. is the story the crow has gone through. We saved his life, he is in a spare aviary i used to use for cockatiels. Of course compaired to the open wild and being free his quality of life has gone down a bit. But an intelligent creature such as a crow will be able to explore, play and learn from being a captive pet. IMO its better than being dead, or suffering a death of a broken wing.

Its cool if some people would say oh its nature you should have just left him alone. Thats fine for most people but if i can help then i will. And it was a success. So I feel good about it.

BIG kudos for helping out all those animals. Good on ya for saving that bird (and the others you've saved as well) :gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mues155

...if i can help then i will. And it was a success. So I feel good about it.

---

So many people would have ignored the suffering animal because it's "just a crow" - thanks for trying to help Juju. Great story! :gj:

I'm glad he's doing well and that you helped him. I do feel that a vet should have amputated the wind however. I can't imaging doing that as an in home procedure.

Man when I read that title I couldn't help but think of Pete and Pete, "Artie, the Strongest Man in the World!"

Big kudos on what you did for him. I hope he does well from now on, poor guy has been through so much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

I'm glad he's doing well and that you helped him. I do feel that a vet should have amputated the wind however. I can't imaging doing that as an in home procedure.

---

Thats how I feel. I do commend the OP for looking after the crow and offering it a second chance at life, but like you I would have found a vet to do the amputation so he/she could have been given proper pain medication and after care. That was my only concern.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

I'm glad he's doing well and that you helped him. I do feel that a vet should have amputated the wind however. I can't imaging doing that as an in home procedure.

---

You gotta remember I live in North Dakota. We dont have wildlife vets or wildlife rehab centers here.
We have several vets in town but we do not have an avian specialist.
Ive had birds for the last 10 years believe me i know we dont have an avian vet. :( it sucks.
So taking it to a vet really would have been out of the question. If i would have that option for any wild animal we take it believe me i would get them proper vet care. But it just isnt here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mues155

You gotta remember I live in North Dakota. We dont have wildlife vets or wildlife rehab centers here.
We have several vets in town but we do not have an avian specialist.
Ive had birds for the last 10 years believe me i know we dont have an avian vet. :( it sucks.
So taking it to a vet really would have been out of the question. If i would have that option for any wild animal we take it believe me i would get them proper vet care. But it just isnt here.

---

That does stink :(. Have you tried looking up farm vets that may have experience with poultry?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

That does stink :(. Have you tried looking up farm vets that may have experience with poultry?

---

that is a good idea. No i havnt. Im assuming when you ask a vet if they have an avian specialist and they say no, they probably dont do any form of avian. But i may have to look into that for my wildcaught animals.

When my african grey got sick i had to take him 300 miles away to an avian specialist.