An amazing coot survival tale

Amazingly the coot survived this and they were able to capture the bird and put it in a zipped -up bag and brought it straight to me. The bird was very quite and still but did not appear to have any broken bones. It was clearly in shock and I wondered if it would make it through the night.
I wrapped it in cloths and placed it in a box and put it in a warm quite room. I didn't offer any food or water as it was too distressed to eat. In the morning I was surprised to see it was still alive after such an accident. We do not have x-ray or ultra sound equipment so if there were any internal injuries or bleeding the bird would die. I re-examined the bird in the morning. I couldn't believe that it didn't have any broken bones but it didn't although it could not stand properly. I left the bird alone all day with water, it was clear it just wanted to sleep.
By 24 hours of coming-in you can sometimes get an idea whether or not an animal can be saved. This bird showed no improvement, was very quiet and just wanted to sleep (coots usually run around and can come at you with their beaks). I sought some advice from another bird carer and a vet and the choices were to give it some anti-inflammatory or just leave it another night. I chose not to put it through the stress of another ride in the car as it was so weak, and left it through the night. This time I left it some water and minced meat and left it unwrapped in a bigger cage. But again in the morning it showed no sign of improvement, it was coming to the time to make a decision as to what to do for this bird.
On the one side you should always seek the most medical help for an injured animal as quickly as you can. On the other side you have to let the animal mend in its own way and provide the least amount of stress and discomfort. So in this case I decided to put it in an outside aviary that had a small pond as it had not eaten in 48 hours and maybe it would feed itself in the pond and feel less stressed in a more natural environment. For another two days I didn't see the bird move or eat but it was still alive and I suspected it had been moving around in the night as it was sleeping in different places.
Amazingly by the time a full week had gone by this coot was running around the cage when I approached and showed no wobbliness in its legs. Its eyes were alert and fixed, and it was swimming and diving in the pond eating the natural food. This was the only photo I was able to get of this bird as it was now running so fast.

Now when to release, the quicker the better as the less time away from its territory the easier it is for the animal to fit back in with the locals. But to soon and you may have a hard time recapturing it or it could die of its injuries. We knew where this bird was from and so it was decided to release it.

When I opened the box to let it go it was reluctant to come out so with some gentle persuasion (ie; tip the box over) the coot came out looked around to get its bearings and headed for the road. Quickly I cut it off from the road and it took one look at me turned around to the water and flew off way into the distance, (Not even time for a departing photo). Across the other side of the river where it flew there were reeds and water plants and other coots have been seen here feeding. It was safely home. What a story to tell its family, I wonder if they believe it when it tells them it was hit by two vehicles?

This is another Eurasian Coot I have nursed back to health. This coot was rescued by a couple walking around their local lake when they noticed it was unable to stand up. It was very quiet and weak. Again it was better to keep this bird in the outdoor aviary that is set up as a natural pond. This reduces these birds stress even though I was concerned about it being cold. This coot didn't walk for 3 days but I made sure it could drink and forage from a container, it accepted pieces of meat whereas they other coot didn't.

Over the next few days it started to shuffle around and get in and out of the pond, within a few more days it was standing and a few days after this it was returned to the pond it was rescued from.

It is always difficult to know when to pursue the medical help or when to let an animal recover itself, often it is a balance between the two and each animal and its circumstances are unique.