amputation

today i had the privilege of observing some minor surgery done on the leg of a ring-billed gull. the poor guy came in recently with his leg basically dangling by a thread. they wrapped it to try to get it to set together but nothing was happening so they decided this morning that his best bet for a good life would be amputation of the lower leg. there was only skin and a bit of tendon to cut through, but i still felt ill when i saw that they would be using scissors while the gull was fully awake! birds are incredibly resilient creatures and never cease to amazing me with how well they deal with injury. there was a fair bit of bleeding but some stitches and lots of pressure took care of that after a few minutes and he was wrapped up and should be able to be released come spring. just another interesting day on the job!

the leg before shot.



stitching up the remaining leg



already standing and eating only minutes later