The pukeko on the road

Well... it was an exciting morning today. 

On the way to school this morning (as Weka know) I saw a large group of pukekos on the road. I slowed down and many of them moved to the grassy verge but one young one didn't. He seemed injured as his wing was hanging in a strange way and his head was curled to one side. 

Annika and Xanthe started yelling from the back seat, telling me I must stop and help.

So I did.

We found an old towel in the car and carefully wrapped him in it. I had to make sure I was gentle and didn't squeeze his wing. He sat very quietly on my lap as we drove down Tancreds Road towards Lincoln vet. I managed to sneak a couple of little gentle strokes on the top of his head. His feathers felt smooth and he was warm in the old towel. He didn't make a sound. He just blinked.

When we got to the vet, we were relieved to see it was open. It had just gone 8 o'clock and we were worried there would be no one there to help. We took him in and asked if they would look at him. We told them we thought a car had gone over him and shocked him and damaged his wing perhaps, so the vet and nurses were very gentle. We told them about Splash and how we loved pukekos.

He stood quietly while they felt his wing and then they tried to get him to stand and walk on the floor. He couldn't do that, but he did try to ruffle his feathers. That wasn't a good idea because he fell over! Poor him!  The vet said they would look after him for a bit as they were worried he was a bit skinny - he only weighed 750 grams - like a block of cheese! 

After school, I phoned the vet to see if we needed to go and get him. They said he had been doing well and that they had given him some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories to help his wing. They said he was still holding his leg up as it was sore and he would need to be looked after for a bit. A hawk had also been dropped in to the vets that day and was going to be taken to be cared for by a lady who agreed to also have the pukeko. 

We thought that was a great idea because if he came to our house, Splash would have tried to peck him. 

We were pleased to have been able to help the young pukeko.  It was an exciting morning...