We believe that wildlife generally should be saved simply by safeguarding their natural environment. But sometimes, protection of animals is only possible involving ex-situ conservation activities. Such case is the rehabilitation of wild animals in distress.

Yearly more and more injured wild birds are arriving to the Milvus Group as more and more people know that we are a facility, who tries to rehabilitate and release them into the wild. Each year we receive 50-70 birds (mostly birds of prey, owls and storks) with different problems. The most frequent cause of distress are the ones caused by human activities: collisions (birds with broken wings, concussion, etc.), electrocution on powerlines (birds legs and wings are burned by current), sometimes shot or poisoned specimens. Also chicks and young birds, supposed to be orphaned, are brought to us. After treatment, almost 50% of birds can be released back to its natural habitat.

The current facility is located in the backyard of the organisation’s office, in the city of Tg.-Mures.

PROBLEMS:

We are managing to run a center on very low costs – we are working mostly with volunteers, we receive food for birds as donation, veterinarians are treating the birds without extra costs just for the price of the medicine, etc. Still, we also realize this is not enough to run such a center professionally and certain improvements should be made:

1. First problem is space – the current center is in the background of the organization’s office in Tg.-Mures and there is not enough space to build a large cage which is needed to let the birds learn to fly properly after recovering from a serious injury. There is also lack of inside cages (for birds after surgery in winter conditions), as we have no adequate space in the office for them.

2. Second problem is personnel – nobody is particularly in charge of the birds, everybody from the office is helping when possible but nobody is dedicated to the job. This way we are facing difficulties when all the staff and also volunteers are busy.

3. The same is true for transportation – as we are the only such center, people are calling us from all over the country, but as we don’t have a car for the centre, transporting the bird to the center is always a problem. This is causing delays sometimes which could be dangerous for the injured bird.

VISION:

1. Moving the Rehabilitation Center from the office backyard to an adequate location. Such location could be Dumbravioara, a village 14 km from Tg.-Mures. Our organisation is running a program in Dumbravioara “The Stork village”. In the last 3 years, in one of the outbuildings of the Teleki Castle, due to the generosity of the Teleki family, we started to establish the “Stork Centre”, where are conditions (buildings and space) for rehabilitation. Here we could set-up a Rehabilitation Centre and save many wild birds from dying. Still part of the building needs to be repaired.

2. Building of additional cages – big one outside and few small inside.

3. Assigning responsible person only for the rehabilitation and managing the volunteers in Center.

4. Improving the knowledge and equipment of our veterinarians – can be achieved through trainings and working visits to other rehabilitation centers.

5. Creating a network of veterinarians in Romania – trained veterinarians with basic knowledge about handling and giving first aid to wild birds will be available all around the country.

6. Creating a network of European rehabilitation centres – know-how and experience exchange.

7. Education – the Center will also be a perfect place for educating young people for nature conservation.

How can you help:

- volunteering in Center by every-day care of bird patients

- symbolic adoptions of birds

- any donations in form of money, food for the birds, construction material, second-hand car, medicaments, vitamins, disinfection, bandages, etc.

     

For more info contact please Attila Kecskés!

Thank you for your help!

The Rehabilitation Center is supported by:

Borka Levente, veterinarian, Tg. Mures

Bob Miklós, veterinarian, Tg. Mures

The Poultry Farm, Jabelnita (donating the food for birds)

Links:

Rescue of the Common Buzzard, go to – Wildlife/ Saving Sacha