Eastern Rosella

[flossy]

Hello Strangers - hope you are all doing well. I've been somewhat silent lately due to a lot of emotional turmoil going on but you get that right? lol.

I just have a quick question really. My husband was given a baby eastern rosella yesterday, it was found on the side of the road by an old lady who was feeding it bread and honey. The thing is SO skinny it's not funny - also very scared and bites like a pitbull!

I'm feeding it Kaytee etc - 3-4 feeds per day - as it's only quite small. Almost fully feathered, but it can't fly. Seems to have most of the feathers etc.

Can you guys please tell me

a. What you would do in this situation - would you keep it, feed it and then release it, or call Wires etc?
b. If I was to keep it - which I don't know that I can of course - do they make good pets?
c. Any other advice please?

Thanks heaps.
Floss x

[vankarhi]

well.........I would probably do as you are doing but I am sure it would then be considered too tame because it is young and possibly would not be released back into the wild. Your best bet would probably be to try to find out what you are legally required to do...........Mike (avinet) will probably be able to help you better with the proper protocol for this situation.

In the meantime...........continue feeding it as you are.

[flossy]

Thanks Tracey, I think I might just call wires, it's so stressed out and I don't want to make it worse....I'm still feeding it, and it's eating well when it stays still. I have to restrain it and I don't feel comfortable doing that.......

[avinet]

Hi Flossy,

I'm not too sure about the NSW regs but in Queensland only authorized wildlife carers can legally look after injured or sick wildlife. Generally they will have to belong to one of the carer groups, and we have a lot of small regional groups unlike NSW with their one big state-wide group.

An Eastern Rosella that is close to fledging age is unlikely to become especially tame - and even when properly hand reared from a very young age most will end up being an aviary only bird. Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, none of the Rosellas make good pets once they mature.

My suggestion is to pass it on to WIRES - they most likely have someone experienced in rehabilitating such birds back into the wild and who may well have other Rosellas to house it with. That will give it the best chance of surviving once released. If you do keep it then I would suspect it would have to become a permanent aviary bird - and it sounds like you probably could do without that added complication at present

cheers,

Mike

[flossy]

Thanks Mike, I rang wires and they told me I should have left the bird where it was! I was like HELLO! it would have died! Then when I told her I had given it 3 feeds, she asked me what right I had to do that!! Again, I was like WHATTTTTTTTT!!
So I hung up on her after not getting a satisfactory response and took the bird to the local vet. She congratulated me for keeping the bird alive and said she would call wires herself and make a complaint. I gave her all the details of the idiot I spoke to and she said she would deal with it.
I cannot believe what happened....I'm still shaking my head!

[vankarhi]

I knew Mike would sort it out lol

[avinet]

Some of these wildlife rescue types can be pretty amazing - most are great but I've come across quite a few in the mould of the one you talked to Flossy. They start thinking they are infallible, and their way is the only way.

It is the reason there are so many different groups up here - in the past they kept arguing with each other and splitting up. That actually seems to have settled down in recent times and our main Sunshine Coast one is pretty stable at present. But there is still an element of do it our way or be thrown out of the group.

Anyway, here's hoping the bird will survive OK.

cheers,

Mike