Barn owl

[Kev Berry]

Just over a week ago we found a barn owl.
Couldnt find any sign of injury but it acted as though it was p****d up and kept falling over.
Took it home and kept in a large dog cage overnight.
Next morning still acting p****d.
Suspected it has eaten something with poison on/in it.
Found a chap who takes in birds of prey....a week later its eating but still falls over but not as bad.
He is taking it to a specialist vet to give it the once over this week.
Anyone had any experience of this ( Dale?)

[Pikerd74]

Not with a bird Kev, but last autumn my 2 sons came across a hedgehog which was stumbling about on our lawn. We looked after the little guy over night before taking him to a hedgehog sanctuary. The very nice lady observed it’s behaviour and thought it had been poisoned by eating slugs which had been feed slug pellets!
She rang a few days later to say the little guy had not made it and on autopsy she confirmed poisoning.

[Mike J]

Birds that have been poisoned usually die very quickly and often not far from the site of the poisoning.
Signs of poisoning are wings closed, legs very straight with feet clenched, head and beak in a straight line to the legs. Any bird found showing such signs should be reported to the Min of Ag. They have specialists investigators who will attend a suspected poisoning and carry out an examination of the birds to determine the cause of death.

Re hedgehogs.
My neighbour recently found a hedgehog showing similar signs as above, it also died. Id doubt the 'nice lady' would find evidence of poison unless death occurred shortly after ingestion. I use slug pellets and have hedgehogs in my garden frequently.
Similar symptoms can occur in sheep (gid) said to be when a tapeworm lodges on the brain. The head tips onto one side with the animal walking around in small circles, death occurs within 24hours.

Hope this helps.

[Pikerd74]

Birds that have been poisoned usually die very quickly and often not far from the site of the poisoning.
Signs of poisoning are wings closed, legs very straight with feet clenched, head and beak in a straight line to the legs. Any bird found showing such signs should be reported to the Min of Ag. They have specialists investigators who will attend a suspected poisoning and carry out an examination of the birds to determine the cause of death.

Re hedgehogs.
My neighbour recently found a hedgehog showing similar signs as above, it also died. Id doubt the 'nice lady' would find evidence of poison unless death occurred shortly after ingestion. I use slug pellets and have hedgehogs in my garden frequently.
Similar symptoms can occur in sheep (gid) said to be when a tapeworm lodges on the brain. The head tips onto one side with the animal walking around in small circles, death occurs within 24hours.

Hope this helps.

Yes she did say that hedgehogs were prone to tapeworms and she did suspect that and the symptoms were similar to that shown in the sheep you mention. However it started to haemorrhage in a similar way to a poisoned rat!
Who knows I always avoid any pesticides including slug pellets (although the little buggers have hammered the pak Choi in my veg plot….. one day I will have a successful crop)

[Mike J]

Birds that have been poisoned usually die very quickly and often not far from the site of the poisoning.
Signs of poisoning are wings closed, legs very straight with feet clenched, head and beak in a straight line to the legs. Any bird found showing such signs should be reported to the Min of Ag. They have specialists investigators who will attend a suspected poisoning and carry out an examination of the birds to determine the cause of death.

Re hedgehogs.
My neighbour recently found a hedgehog showing similar signs as above, it also died. Id doubt the 'nice lady' would find evidence of poison unless death occurred shortly after ingestion. I use slug pellets and have hedgehogs in my garden frequently.
Similar symptoms can occur in sheep (gid) said to be when a tapeworm lodges on the brain. The head tips onto one side with the animal walking around in small circles, death occurs within 24hours.

Hope this helps.

Yes she did say that hedgehogs were prone to tapeworms and she did suspect that and the symptoms were similar to that shown in the sheep you mention. However it started to haemorrhage in a similar way to a poisoned rat!
Who knows I always avoid any pesticides including slug pellets (although the little buggers have hammered the pak Choi in my veg plot….. one day I will have a successful crop)

Warfarin which causes a rat to haemorrhage is not used these days, todays poison is accumulative so the rats do not associate what they have eaten with it killing them.

Please post about your Pak Choi growing on the Food threads, I love it and would be very interested (Im growing ginger btw)

.

[Pikerd74]

Birds that have been poisoned usually die very quickly and often not far from the site of the poisoning.
Signs of poisoning are wings closed, legs very straight with feet clenched, head and beak in a straight line to the legs. Any bird found showing such signs should be reported to the Min of Ag. They have specialists investigators who will attend a suspected poisoning and carry out an examination of the birds to determine the cause of death.

Re hedgehogs.
My neighbour recently found a hedgehog showing similar signs as above, it also died. Id doubt the 'nice lady' would find evidence of poison unless death occurred shortly after ingestion. I use slug pellets and have hedgehogs in my garden frequently.
Similar symptoms can occur in sheep (gid) said to be when a tapeworm lodges on the brain. The head tips onto one side with the animal walking around in small circles, death occurs within 24hours.

Hope this helps.

Yes she did say that hedgehogs were prone to tapeworms and she did suspect that and the symptoms were similar to that shown in the sheep you mention. However it started to haemorrhage in a similar way to a poisoned rat!
Who knows I always avoid any pesticides including slug pellets (although the little buggers have hammered the pak Choi in my veg plot….. one day I will have a successful crop)

Warfarin which causes a rat to haemorrhage is not used these days, todays poison is accumulative so the rats do not associate what they have eaten with it killing them.

Please post about your Pak Choi growing on the Food threads, I love it and would be very interested (Im growing ginger btw)

.

It’s a frustrating crop Mike everything loves it, the flea beetles ruined last years crop and snails the year before that. I will eat some one day lol

[Bob Watson]

I thought modern slug pellets were harmless to animals???

[Tiercel]

Just over a week ago we found a barn owl.
Couldnt find any sign of injury but it acted as though it was p****d up and kept falling over.
Took it home and kept in a large dog cage overnight.
Next morning still acting p****d.
Suspected it has eaten something with poison on/in it.
Found a chap who takes in birds of prey....a week later its eating but still falls over but not as bad.
He is taking it to a specialist vet to give it the once over this week.
Anyone had any experience of this ( Dale?)

I've had a word with a falconer of 40 years (my mentor) who also rehabbed many hundreds of birds in that time, and like me he thinks it has suffered a collision with a car and is concussed.
If it hasn't suffered brain damage it could take several days to come round and eventually be released.

[Kev Berry]

Just over a week ago we found a barn owl.
Couldnt find any sign of injury but it acted as though it was p****d up and kept falling over.
Took it home and kept in a large dog cage overnight.
Next morning still acting p****d.
Suspected it has eaten something with poison on/in it.
Found a chap who takes in birds of prey....a week later its eating but still falls over but not as bad.
He is taking it to a specialist vet to give it the once over this week.
Anyone had any experience of this ( Dale?)

I've had a word with a falconer of 40 years (my mentor) who also rehabbed many hundreds of birds in that time, and like me he thinks it has suffered a collision with a car and is concussed.
If it hasn't suffered brain damage it could take several days to come round and eventually be released.

We found it several hundred yards from the road Dale. Concussion was one thing we discussed but not a feather out of place. Been taken to a specialist vet so will get an update soon. If it recovers I will be fetching it back to release where we found it.

[Mike J]

Just over a week ago we found a barn owl.
Couldnt find any sign of injury but it acted as though it was p****d up and kept falling over.
Took it home and kept in a large dog cage overnight.
Next morning still acting p****d.
Suspected it has eaten something with poison on/in it.
Found a chap who takes in birds of prey....a week later its eating but still falls over but not as bad.
He is taking it to a specialist vet to give it the once over this week.
Anyone had any experience of this ( Dale?)

I've had a word with a falconer of 40 years (my mentor) who also rehabbed many hundreds of birds in that time, and like me he thinks it has suffered a collision with a car and is concussed.
If it hasn't suffered brain damage it could take several days to come round and eventually be released.

We found it several hundred yards from the road Dale. Concussion was one thing we discussed but not a feather out of place. Been taken to a specialist vet so will get an update soon. If it recovers I will be fetching it back to release where we found it.

If it recovers have it ringed before it is released.
Contact the British Trust of Ornithology beforehand and ask for the details of your local raptor ringers. They will be only to pleased to attended where the bird will be weighed, aged and sexed before ringing and release. You will also be informed if or when the ring is recovered.



.

[Kev Berry]

Just over a week ago we found a barn owl.
Couldnt find any sign of injury but it acted as though it was p****d up and kept falling over.
Took it home and kept in a large dog cage overnight.
Next morning still acting p****d.
Suspected it has eaten something with poison on/in it.
Found a chap who takes in birds of prey....a week later its eating but still falls over but not as bad.
He is taking it to a specialist vet to give it the once over this week.
Anyone had any experience of this ( Dale?)

I've had a word with a falconer of 40 years (my mentor) who also rehabbed many hundreds of birds in that time, and like me he thinks it has suffered a collision with a car and is concussed.
If it hasn't suffered brain damage it could take several days to come round and eventually be released.

We found it several hundred yards from the road Dale. Concussion was one thing we discussed but not a feather out of place. Been taken to a specialist vet so will get an update soon. If it recovers I will be fetching it back to release where we found it.

If it recovers have it ringed before it is released.
Contact the British Trust of Ornithology beforehand and ask for the details of your local raptor ringers. They will be only to pleased to attended where the bird will be weighed, aged and sexed before ringing and release. You will also be informed if or when the ring is recovered.



.

Thanks Mike...will do

[Tiercel]

We found it several hundred yards from the road Dale. Concussion was one thing we discussed but not a feather out of place. Been taken to a specialist vet so will get an update soon. If it recovers I will be fetching it back to release where we found it.

I still favour concussion as the likely problem Kev.
Unlike hawks and falcons that give chase and occasionally hit things, an owl doesn't normally chase prey and instead ambushes it from above with a high success rate.
The owl could have been trying to escape from being robbed of prey by a kestrel which is quite common, and possibly flew into something that didn't move, but being clipped by a vehicle is favourite in my tiny mind.