A rare South American bird which had been living happily in the English countryside has died after the RSPCA made a bungled attempt to rescue it.
The charity was trying to recapture the giant 4ft 9 ins rhea after it escaped from its enclosure on an estate near Woodbridge, Suffolk several months ago.
But the flightless 90lbs bird died after experts shot it with a tranquilliser gun and it later suffered a suspected panic attack while recovering from the anaesthetic.
Despite the RSPCAâs concerns for its safety, the rhea had managed to survive one of the coldest winters in living memory and had been spotted numerous times by locals near Eyke, Suffolk.
But it was feared that the bird could have run onto a road and caused an accident, the charity said.
After previous botched attempts to catch the bird, which can run at up to 40mph, Mark Thompson, an RSPCA chief inspector, tracked it down and shot it with a tranquilliser dart.
He said later: âIt was so big that it could have caused a lot of damage to a car and people might have been injured or killed.
We recaptured it in a very controlled way and caused it the minimum amount of distress.
The dosage of tranquilliser was right for the size of bird. It appeared to be recovering well from the affect of the drug, but unfortunately it died. Birds do suffer from stress and this is one of those unfortunate things.â
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wi...ter-RSPCA-shot-it-with-tranquilliser-gun.html
The charity was trying to recapture the giant 4ft 9 ins rhea after it escaped from its enclosure on an estate near Woodbridge, Suffolk several months ago.
But the flightless 90lbs bird died after experts shot it with a tranquilliser gun and it later suffered a suspected panic attack while recovering from the anaesthetic.
Despite the RSPCAâs concerns for its safety, the rhea had managed to survive one of the coldest winters in living memory and had been spotted numerous times by locals near Eyke, Suffolk.
But it was feared that the bird could have run onto a road and caused an accident, the charity said.
After previous botched attempts to catch the bird, which can run at up to 40mph, Mark Thompson, an RSPCA chief inspector, tracked it down and shot it with a tranquilliser dart.
He said later: âIt was so big that it could have caused a lot of damage to a car and people might have been injured or killed.
We recaptured it in a very controlled way and caused it the minimum amount of distress.
The dosage of tranquilliser was right for the size of bird. It appeared to be recovering well from the affect of the drug, but unfortunately it died. Birds do suffer from stress and this is one of those unfortunate things.â
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wi...ter-RSPCA-shot-it-with-tranquilliser-gun.html
