Vets to help vulture see
2009-10-15 22:23
Johannesburg - Vets at Onderstepoort will attempt to restore the eyesight of an African White-backed vulture on Friday, the University of Pretoria said.
"This operation will be the first of its kind done on any vulture species in Africa, but also the first of its kind in the world on a bird of the Gyps species," Chris van Blerk of the Faculty of Veterinary Science said in a statement on Thursday.
The vulture (Gyps Africanus), currently in the care of Kerri Wolter of the vulture programme of the Rhino and Lion Wildlife Conservation, was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes, causing him to be almost fully blind.
Wolter, who took the bird, which is listed as a vulnerable species, to Onderstepoort for treatment, said she got it from a wildlife rehabilitation colleague, Alma Fuller, in the Free State.
Fuller collected it from a landowner at Lemoenhok, near Bloemfontein.
Blind from birth
Wolter said that it must have been blind either from birth, or became blind as a chick in the nest, as the cataracts were at a very advanced stage.
"I think it relied on its parents to survive for almost 11 months, but they would have kicked him out as they started to breed, so I don't think it would have survived for more than a week longer in the wild," she said in the statement.
Van Blerk said the operation would entail removing the birds' lenses, causing him to be long-sighted, if everything went according to plan.
The bird would go back to the Rhino and Lion Wildlife Conservation facilities near Hartebeespoort Dam.
Vulture restaurant
"It will be on antibiotics and eye drops for about six weeks, before it will be released into a vulture flight enclosure.
"If we find that it copes by itself, it will hopefully be released within two months," Wolter said.
The bird would be released on a private farm near Magaliesberg.
"There is a vulture restaurant with easily accessible food and water."
It was not being released back at Lemoenhok due to "poison problems" and power lines. If it wanted to go back, it could do so by itself.
If the bird didn't fully rehabilitate, it would stay at the vulture programme and be used for educational purposes and become an ambassador for the African White-backed vulture.
- SAPA