I reported the sickly Sparrowhawk (see bellow) and received a very comprehensive reply:-
Dear John,
Many thanks for taking the time to report to Garden Wildlife Health via the GBW Health tab, helping us to learn more about the diseases affecting British wildlife. We’re
sorry to hear that you have observed this sparrowhawk showing such signs of ill health.
If you are concerned about the welfare of this bird, you could consider calling the RSPCA (0300 1234 999), your local veterinary surgeon or wildlife rehabilitation centre, as they should be able to advise further.
Unfortunately, we can’t speculate on a diagnosis without performing an examination on this sparrowhawk, and there are various infectious or non-infectious conditions that could be involved here. In lieu of a diagnosis on this occasion, and if this is of interest, please see our disease factsheet library on our website, which provides information on some of the common diseases we see in garden wildlife.
It is important to be aware that there are several possible causes of ill health and death in garden wildlife, such as salmonellosis, which, whilst the risks are low, have the potential to cause ill health in humans and pets, so we always recommend following good hygiene precautions, such as not handling sick and dead wildlife directly and washing your hands thoroughly after handling wildlife/carcasses.
I hope this information is helpful and please do keep on reporting your observations to us so that we can continue to improve our understanding of the disease conditions affecting British garden wildlife.
Once again thank you for your support of our project, we greatly appreciate your help. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries.
Kind regards,
Sarah
Sarah Haddow
BSc (Hons), MRes, BVetMed, MRCVS
Wildlife Veterinarian | Research Associate
Institute of Zoology | Zoological Society of London
Garden Wildlife Health Tel: +44- 20-7449-6685
Follow us on twitter @wildlife_health and @ZSLScience
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