Found a crow with a hurt wing!

My friend and I found a crow with a badly hurt wing in a parking lot today. We chased him around and caught him, to have him escape, and have us chase him and catch him a couple times. After the first catch, he just sat in my hand and didn't try to get away, but then I moved or something, and OFF he went! He had a LOT of spirit!

Luckily I had the number of a woman who does wild bird rescues, from when I found a grebe who wasn't flying in another parking lot a couple years ago. Apparently it was just being grebeish or something.

We had to wait a few hours before the woman was home to take him, so I took him to my mom's house, who had a carrier for us to borrow. We gave him some water and food, just in case he felt like eating or drinking, and left him alone for a couple hours. When we came back, he was perched on the edge of his bowl. He seemed alert the whole time, and didn't seem particularly scared except when we were chasing him.

The poor bird's wing looked really bad to me. He couldn't move it at all from the shoulder down, and was just dragging it around. At one point when we were chasing him, he tripped on it and ended up on his back! It was really sad. I can't imagine how painful this must be for him! D:

When I brought him to the rescue woman, she said that it might not be broken, that it might just be an infection. She also said that crows are strong flyers, and usually recover from wing breaks pretty well. I asked what happens if he can't fly again, and she said that it's federal law that they be put down if they can't be rehabilitated. She seemed pretty optimistic about his condition though.

Thank you for taking the crow to the rehab. Best of luck and healing to him/her!

thanks for taking the time an effort on the crow, i love watching the wild ones outside of my house, they are very smart birds, and i love throwing food out for them an watching eat, as some will always keep guard!

funny thing is there pretty vicious as a flock, my friend had a baby crow in her garden that cat had gotten hold of, she said it was like a scene from the film, the birds, they all came an harrassed the cat, chased off her dog an her when she went into the garden to find cat, that had shot past her into the safety of the house.
but the sentinial crows still stayed on her fence, looking intent!!!

I couldn't just let him keep going like that! He probably would have died of infection or a predator soon. Even if he does have to be euthanized, at least he'll be somewhat comfortable and safe and warm.

suebee - That's hilarious! I love crows. My old neighbors used to have walnut trees, and during walnut season the crows would spend weeks dropping walnuts on the street from high up to break them open!

theres a nest in next doors chimney pot, (ours are coverd) they canbe soo noisey, i forgot to add they chased my friend out of her garden, she didn't want to go through back door as she was worried they'd get in her house, i'm walking to work, shes screaming down her garden path, when i get to her house, i asked was that her screaming??
she thanked my for not rushing to her aid as i laughed as she explained why she was screaming down her garden path, an then her nieghbour popped out an asked if that was her screaming!!!

she just said she was glad to have friends that rushed to her rescue!! (not) lmao

her cats not been same since lol

Lol!!! :-d

Ya know, the state/federal thing on crows <and other indigenous wildlife> always bothered me... I can understand groups not wanting people to go out raid nests and whatnot, but why the absolute prohibition on even trying to rescue/recuperate one of these creatures?

Maybe someone can slap me upside the head with a clue-by-for cause I don't get it..

captrandom said:

Ya know, the state/federal thing on crows <and other indigenous wildlife> always bothered me... I can understand groups not wanting people to go out raid nests and whatnot, but why the absolute prohibition on even trying to rescue/recuperate one of these creatures?

Maybe someone can slap me upside the head with a clue-by-for cause I don't get it..

Click to expand...

In order to keep native wildlife in captivity each individual animal has to be licensed and facilities have to meet all standards for permanent housing.

The cost of keeping up all the permits to keep the wildlife in captivity permanently, coupled with the costs of housing the animal properly for the rest of its natural life + food cost and enrichment = far greater then what most places can pay.

SO the DNR just made it (more cost effective) by instating that wildlife that is unable to be rehabbed (minus endangered species, in most cases a zoo will take them) is Put To Sleep.

Another reason is just like with wild caught parrots, it's not fair to take them from a life of complete freedom and put them in a cage where they now have limits and rules their food is completely different then what they are use to etc.

You will however see some educational programs that will take wildlife that is unable to be rehabbed and use them for their shows etc. BUT this is more commonly seen with Birds of Prey then anything.

Believe it or not if they actually had someone who was able to pay for all the permits to keep native wildlife in captivity after not being able to be rehabbed he government would make more money off the costs of those permits but lets face it almost NO ONE has the ability to open a large enough facility to accommodate as many animals that can't be rehabbed.

There is a reason we have forests and why humans are "destroying the world". This is just one of them... look how many animals are hit by cars and die unnaturally.

It makes no sense but what in lief does anymore these days? the medications we take are ALL in our water supply ALL the great lakes have HIGH amounts of antibiotics which is killing off everything since water based life depends on good bacteria for nitrification to "filter" waste out of it.

It has gotten so bad that in lake eerie the fish are getting botulism and passing it to the birds. The reason why? there is NO treatments for the water that can get rid of these NON ORGANIC COMPOUNDS.

The increases in cancers, birth defects etc, may well be blamed on this because its pretty much like you are drinking a chemical cocktail when you are drinking tap water now-a-days.

As humans nothing we do makes sense. Killing off animals that are injured (most of the time due to humans) that can't be fully rehabbed is just another mystery of the human condition... My mother in law summed it up pretty good "mans interference and destruction of the planet and the things on the planet is just people trying to play "god" and failing at it"

I am very grateful for people like you who take the time to help injured wildlife. Many people don't bother. I hope the crow's wing gets better, poor thing