Giving Durrell’s first-class foster mum her sight back

Giving Durrell’s first-class foster mum her sight back

However, thanks to the skills of vets from the UK and Durrell, one local red-billed chough survived three hours under the knife at Jersey Zoo to have her vision fully restored.

The head of Durrell’s bird department said staff could not be more delighted, as the bird, called Gianna, is a character who relates more to people than her fellow choughs, who are part of a coastal restoration programme.

Since she arrived from Italy in 2012, where she was hand-reared, Gianna (9) has become the ‘super foster mum’ of the Birds on the Edge captive breeding programme to reintroduce choughs to the Island. Although she shows little interest in the other members of the species she shares an aviary with, she has been happy to hatch eggs laid by other choughs from which five chicks have been successfully reared for release in the wild.

‘I cannot stress how important Gianna is for the chough collection and the project, and for us the choice to operate was the same as any pet owner would make for their dog or cat,’ head of birds at Jersey Zoo Dr Glyn Young said.

‘Gianna, our ‘super foster mum’ for the captive breeding programme, had developed cataracts in both eyes. We called in specialists from the UK to assess her condition with the view to operate.

‘Ophthalmologist Claudia Hartley and nurse Kelly Shackleton from Langford Vets in Bristol flew over. Claudia has previously helped Jersey Zoo to save the sight of one of our lemurs, so we knew Gianna was in good hands.’

They also found time to perform sight-saving surgery on seven dogs and two horses at New Era vets before they returned to Bristol.

Durrell Vet Alberto Barbon, who assisted with the operation, said: ‘Surgery and anaesthesia went well, although she developed a hyphaema [bleed] in the right eye following the surgery, but this was resolved over the next two weeks.

‘In simple terms she has a sore eye, but it healed and she regained full sight.’

Birds on the Edge is a collaboration between Durrell, the National Trust for Jersey and the Environment Department to manage the Island’s coastland and to bring back the red-billed chough, which became extinct here in the early 20th century.

The project focuses on areas of overgrown abandoned farmland on the north coast that is being kept under control using natural grazing by Manx Loaghtan sheep, which were introduced to Jersey ten years ago. By controlling undergrowth they create habitats in which the choughs and other wildlife and plants can flourish.

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