Blinded and broken, Sunny the owl becomes another casualty of Russia’s war
Russia sent kamikaze drones to attack the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in February. They hit buildings and killed several people. One unreported victim of the bombardment was a male long-eared owl, blinded in one eye and found with a badly broken wing. A passerby scooped up the stunned bird, put him in a box and took him to the city of Dnipro.
The owl – nicknamed Sunny – is now recovering in a cosy room belonging to Veronica Konkova. No longer able to fly or hunt, Sunny instead hops around.
Konkova said: “The fracture was so bad his left wing had to be amputated. The vet diagnosed brain trauma. Sunny doesn’t react normally to light.”
1 Comments
anon6789@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 82d
Very good article about all the far-reaching effects of the damage done by war.
Not sure how to feel about Sunny. It's still a very beautiful looking owl, but this would not be allowed here in America. Birds that need their full wing removed are considered to have an inadequate quality of life because they develop serious balance issues. They can have about half of the wing removed, as long as it does not pass the elbow.
This is an x-ray of a Barn owl named Alice Cooper. This owl had to have the outer part of the wing amputed where you can see the break in the bones of the radius and ulna. As long as the humerus remains, they can amputate and see how the bird fares.
It's amazing to see all the conservation work still going on in Ukraine after being under siege for so long now. I shared earlier this year about an Eagle Owl repopulation project. I think it's inspiring to see people (and animals!) building up despite all the tearing down going on.