Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
The first Buzzard arrived from Plovdiv. The bird was extremely weak. Mr. Moni Naydenov had taken care of it for a week before he found our contacts and brought the bird to Green Balkans’ office in Plovdiv. Then, our colleagues transported the Buzzard to the Rescue Center in Stara Zagora.
The reason for the poor condition of the bird was one missing eye. Most probably, the bird was shot in the head. The Buzzard survived this injury and the hole in the eye healed up long ago. However, the long period needed to adjust to this handicap resulted in gradual weight loss. The only thing we could do was giving it enough food, so that it could gain some weigth. About two weeks later, the One-eyed felt the wind in its wings again, and moved away with a smooth flight.
Another shot Buzzard arrived from the region of Gotse Delchev. The bird had a fracture in its right wing and a ball-shot lodged in the bone. Those who found the bird wanted to kill it for stuffing. They, however, came across Mr. Ivan Kobakov, who, willing to save the bird, even bought it out, to give it to us. What a noble deed!
Killing a living creature to have a carcass decoration is insanity. Unfortunately, this is a common practice in Bulgaria. Wild animals are killed for nothing and treated as mere objects. If you think a bird is beautiful, you would enjoy watching it flying freely in the sky, rather than be watched by glassy eyes from the wall!
There is another side to this story. Besides being a noble act, buying out animals in order to save them, may prove a bad idea, because once being paid for this, people may decide that this is a profitable “business” and start catching animals for this particular purpose.

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
Another one-eyed bird. The reason for its poor condition remains unknown. It is quite unlikely for a bird with such good orientation skills to get itself pricked on a twig. Therefore, although there were no ball-shots found in the body, most probably the reason was shooting.
As the wound was relatively fresh, we applied a drug treatment to prevent damages to the other eye. When hunting, owls use their hearing a lot, so we hoped that the missing eye was not much of an obstacle to the survival of this wonderful bird. Unfortunately, a few days later it died of a massive cerebral haemorrhage.
We are extremely thankful to Mrs. Reneta Hristozova from Stara Zagora and her colleagues, who had found the bird on the rails and sheltered it before bringing it to the Rescue Center.

Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
A wonderful Hawk from Burgas shot by pigeon breeders. The result was a fracture in the wing. The fracture, itself, was not so bad, but the bird had been kept for a week with no treatment or food by a man, who wanted to keep it as a pet. Needless to say, taking raptors from the wild and keeping them as pets is absolutely forbidden.
Another shot Gashawk dwells in the intensive care unit of the Rescue Center. It was received from the village of Oreshak, Troyan Municipality.
Unfortunately, neither bird would be able to fly again.

Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)
A magnificent representative of Herons shot in the leg with almost crumbled bones. The bigger problem, however, was that most of the nerves were cut. The operation was successful, but, unfortunately, few days later the bird died of coccidiosis – an infectious disease affecting the intestinal tract of birds.
The Bittern is a very dangerous patient, because it is always ready to use its main weapon – the incredibly sharp bill that quickly targets your eyes. The daily need for injections turns the reanimation caretaking into a challenge.
We would like to thank our colleagues from the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water in Haskovo for sending the bird to the Rescue Center.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
The youngster arrived from Pleven with the assistance of our colleagues from the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water in Pleven. It was covered in black oil, thus it was unable to eat for a long time. The black oil had not penetrated to the skin, but, despite the efforts made, the Swan died. Perhaps it got poisoned swallowing black oil while plucking its feathers trying to clean them up. The major problem in such cases is that the bird’s temperature drops sharply, because the plumage cannot fulfil one of its main functions – namely, keeping the body warm.
On-the-spot inspection was carried out to check if there was an oil leak from “Plama Pleven” factory.

Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus torquatus)
This handsome specimen had no injuries. It was caught in Stara Zagora and was absolutely domesticated. Perhaps birds from a pheasant-breeding farm were released for the hunting season, but being extremely tame, they needed human company.
The Pheasant, named Pako, will stay with us sharing the yard with the Storks, the Swans, and the Pheasant Koko presented in our previous news. The two pheasants became good friends. Moreover, they are insolent enough to argue for food with the Swans, which are much bigger and stronger.
Last, but not least, I would like to inform you of the status of the juvenile White-tailed Eagle that was admitted at the Rescue Center shot, with a broken wing. It already recovered from the serious operation. The wing healed up well and the youngster was moved to a perch-equipped premise so that it could start using its wing again. In a week or two, it will be released in a big aviary. We should not forget, however, that its whole body was riddled with ball-shots that could not be removed. That means that even if it flies again, its release into the wild will not be guaranteed.

Lyubomila Krivoshieva
Rehabilitator
lkrivoshieva@greenbalkans-wrbc.org

Further information about the Wildlife Rescue Center is available on its website at http://www.greenbalkans-wrbc.org/