A blue heron with an oyster attached to its toe was transported from Vancouver to Maple Ridge for emergency care.
The bird was brought to Dewdney Animal Hospital on Saturday, May 2, after a participant in a boat race on False Creek, who happened to be a biologist with Marine Mammal Rescue, noticed the experiencing some difficulty in the water.
“We have dealt with birds with things like fishing line frequently. Oyster attack not so much,” joked Dr. Adrian Walton.
Most years, he will be asked to help out a heron. One year he was asked to help a crane that was hit by a golf ball in Pitt Meadows.
Initially it was thought the heron’s leg was caught between some rocks.
However, when members of the BC Wildlife response team arrived, they discovered that it was not rocks that the bird’s leg was caught between, but a giant 18 centimetre long oyster.
“Her toe was caught between the two shell halves,” explained Walton, with the veterinarian clinic in Maple Ridge.
Rescuers had to act fast as the tide was rising, but they managed to capture the bird and get it to safety.
Members of the BC Wildlife Response Team wrapped the bird in a blanket and put it in a cage for the hour-long drive to the clinic on 228 Street.
Walton and the response team members believe the heron must have thrashed around hard in the water after its toes was caught in the oyster, for the oyster to be dislodged off the rock.
With the blanket still wrapped around the bird, it was placed on a scale where Walton measured the animal at 2.2 kilograms.
Walton noted that the bird was in good condition with all things considered.
He injected pain medication into the heron and used a fish anesthetic for the oyster, before prying the oyster open to release the bird’s toe.
“We anaesthetized the oyster to prevent it from closing even more. We couldn’t shuck it without cutting the toe. Irritants like alcohols could cause the oyster to tighten,” Walton explained.
Walton noted the toe was broken.
“But the good news, is it’s more of a ligament tear than anything else,” he added in an online video documenting the removal of the oyster.
He wrapped the bird’s toe in gauze and then fitted it with a splint, which was really the tube part of a syringe.
Then, they put the heron in a cage to recover.
The following day, the heron was sent to the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC in Burnaby.
Walton noted they will have to amputate the toe in a few days.
The heron should be available for release in about seven to 10 days following the amputation, he added.