On 25th
August Shaun and I attended to a call to pick up an unwell Little Penguin, that
Barry an Australian Seabird Rescue team member from down south, had
picked up earlier from Dalmeny. We met Barry in Ulladulla and the very sick,
underweight and lifeless bird came into our care. I initially thought that the
penguin wouldn’t survive the car trip home, he was dehydrated, incredibly
skinny and just about to give up the fight. There was barely any movement from
the carry cage on the way home, his head was being held upright by towels and
Shaun and I both didn’t believe there was much hope for this one.
We got
home, administered fluids, antibiotics and Spark by stomach tube and set up our
penguin cot, with lots of soft towels, a hide box and hot water bottles. He
weighed a measly 540g, an adult Little Penguin should be 1kg or over. Things
were not looking good. We performed a thorough examination of him, scrupulously
checking for ticks, as he was showing signs of paralysis in the neck, feet and
legs. There were no ticks to be found, but we realised his feet and legs had
many superficial wounds and grazes. We tended to the wounds as best we could,
washed away the sand and applied an antibiotic and soothing ointment to them.
The next thing we noticed was a limp right flipper, bright lime green faeces
and after many calls to Betty we came to the conclusion that Sapphire was
suffering from Botulism. We decided that the other injuries could be dealt with
once the Botulism had been treated.
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| Shaun performing a tick search on Sapphire the penguin on Day 1 |
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| Very sick Sapphire on Day 1 |
The next
morning I tentatively went in to check, hoping for the best. He was still with
us! He was still very much in a critical condition, flopped over, being
supported by towels and very lethargic. I continued to feed him by stomach tube
throughout the day. By day two he was standing for short periods, was aware of
his surroundings, holding his head up and trying to walk. Later on in day two
he accepted force fed whitebait, much to his disdain. Day 4 and Sapphire was
holding himself upright without the aid of towels, still not walking but an
incredible improvement. I continued with fluids and feeds four times a day and
he began to rapidly gain weight. By Day 5 he was ready for his first warm bath,
he was not impressed and it lasted approximately 2 minutes until I took him out
to dry off , back to bed for Mr Cranky!
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| Sapphire the penguin standing up on Day 4 |
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| First bath on Day 6 fro Sapphire the penguin. |
As I was
preparing to force feed some fish to him on day 8, I could see a twinkle in his
eye before a sharp snap, and the fish was gone! I held out another, snap! It
was a breakthrough moment and Shaun and I became pretty excited. From here on
Sapphire readily (greedily) took fish from our fingers.. that was until he
started to get really cheeky, if we
weren’t fast enough getting the next fish to him he’d grab our fingers… we
transitioned to feeding him with silicone tongs very quickly!
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| Sapphire the penguin tarting to free feed. |
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| Shari feeding Sapphire the penguin. |
He began to
dramatically improve, getting fatter and more vocal by the day. That little
flipper was still lame but he regained full movement in his feet and legs, he
had beaten the botulism! And it was time to move out! Well, into the outdoor
enclosure anyway.. Once moved outside he began to improve even further, and his
true personality began to shine. He would call out loudly at sunrise, when he
was hungry, while he was eating, when he’d finished eating, and on sunset. He
soon worked out that when he called, I came running (with fish in hand). I was
wrapped around his little flipper, and he knew it!
On day 31
he weighed 850g, nearly double of when
he first came into care, he was well on his way to recovery. After many phone
calls to Betty and Penny, we decided to give him a deep bath to test his
flipper out. Unfortunately there were no signs of improvement so Betty took him
for an assessment at Cannon and Ball Veterinary Clinic, they found that the
flipper had an old injury and the decision to take him to Taronga Zoo for further
assessment and treatment was made.
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| Sapphire the penguin having a bath outside. |
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| Sapphire the penguin having a bath outside. |
Shaun and I made the trip up to Taronga
Wildlife Hospital for the handover, and met with Libby Hall. She kindly gave us
a fantastic tour of the veterinary clinic, hospital and rehabilitation facility
and very generously gave us a visitor pass to do some “research” on the zoo! We
really appreciate the lovely gesture and thanks to Libby we had an amazing
experience of seeing what goes on behind the scenes at the zoo.
I’m in regular
contact with Vanessa at the Wildlife Hospital at Taronga Zoo, and Sapphire is
settling in nicely. He is continually recovering and putting on weight, and
being as vocal and cheeky as ever. The latest news is that he will not be
suitable for release into the wild due to his flipper. A release into the wild
would mean certain death for a penguin who cannot swim or fish. He will
eventually join the zoo’s collection once he has fully recovered, served his
time in quarantine and go on display with the rest of the colony in the Great
Southern Oceans display.
A massive
thank you to the team at Taronga, Libby Hall, Betty, Penny and Cannon &
Ball Vet Clinic for your advice and assistance with Sapphire! Shaun and I both
learned a lot while looking after him and are very happy with the outcome. We
plan to sponsor/adopt Sapphire once he joins the Taronga colony and maybe even
make a few visits to say hello.
Shari
