3 white backed vultures were found partially paralysed and very weak on a nearby reserve. The workers managed to catch them and acting from vet advice they brought them straight to us. Upon arrival, the crop of each vulture was manually emptied to remove any potentially poisoned meat remaining that not had not yet been digested. The vultures still had use of their wings and head but their legs were immobilised… just like the previous vultures we rescued these are the typical signs of organic phosphate poisoning. The 3 vultures were all tubed with fluids and left to rest in a dark, warm cubicle. The next 12 hours were crucial for ensuring that they were rehydrated and stayed that way in hope that the poison would be flushed out of their system; thus they had to be tubed with fluids every two hours. The following day 2 of the vultures had gained a lot more strength,regained the use of their legs and became quite feisty, however the third was still in a very bad way and concerned the clinic staff as his crop took a very long time to digest and he still wasn’t standing.

Luckily after 48hrs in our care all 3 were finally standing, had had bowel movements which meant their internal system was recovering from the poison AND they slowly began to eat! This is wonderful news after witnessing what a weak state they arrived in! Updates will follow as they hopefully recover further!