A new 24-hour emergency room for injured wild birds has opened at the Warsaw Zoo in Poland, offering a high-tech drop-off system that gives birds the best chance of survival. The facility, which opened in February, uses automated metal containers similar to parcel lockers to keep birds warm and safe until veterinarians can collect them.
The first patient was a male bullfinch that had flown into a window. Its rescuer, Marcin Jarzębski, placed the bird in a shoebox and brought it to the new drop-off centre. He filled out a questionnaire and carefully placed the box into one of the containers, which then sent an immediate signal to the bird hospital just a few metres away.
The bird hospital at Warsaw Zoo has operated since 1998 and now treats about 9,000 patients annually. The new box system, designed by hospital workers, locks birds in to keep them secure until a doctor arrives. It was financed in part by Warsaw’s citizen budget, a programme that chooses projects based on online surveys of residents.
Zoo director and ornithologist Andrzej Kruszewicz said humans have a responsibility to care for creatures whose habitat they have altered. “Humans often cause problems: car accidents, crashes into windows, electrocutions, tangled strings on storks’ legs,” he said. “All this is humans’ fault and they should feel responsible to give these birds a second chance.”
Typical patients include common songbirds like tits, sparrows, thrushes and starlings, as well as pigeons. However, in a green city like Warsaw, rarer species also appear. Hospital manager Andżelika Gackowska noted that warm winters caused by climate change have led some birds, including cranes and herons, to stay in Poland rather than migrate south, leaving them vulnerable to harsh winters.
Veterinarian assistants are constantly on their feet, feeding and medicating the birds across multiple rooms. Once stronger, birds are placed in large cages outside to readjust before being released. “Releasing the cured birds back into their habitat is the ultimate goal,” said veterinarian Ewelina Chudziak.
