PARIS – An osprey that was rescued from the Handy Store Bridge amid much excitement Wednesday was euthanized that afternoon, according to veterinarian Matthew Holden.
“Unfortunately, we think he was probably hit by a car because there was a fair amount of damage inside, if you will,” Holden said Thursday.
As tragic as the day was for the osprey, not all was lost. Kappy Sprenger of Bridgton, who specializes in rehabilitating fish-eating birds, has frozen the osprey, and his wing and tail feathers will be pulled to help other injured ospreys.
Broken flight feathers can be cut close to the wing on a living bird and new feathers can be inserted and glued into place, Sprenger said. The glued feathers stay in place and help the bird fly until their molting process begins and new feathers grow.
“It’s very possible this bird would directly save the lives of three other ospreys,” she said. “These birds don’t do well in captivity,” she said, dying from stress or other disorders if held for very long.
“They molt only once a year,” so to have feathers available to graft into injured ospreys gets them flying again soon and possibly saves their lives.
She noted the full-grown adult bird’s feathers were in “great condition.”
Sprenger also said the bird’s body will be used for research.
The osprey was found on the bridge that carries East Main Street, or Route 117, over the Little Androscoggin River. It was taken to the Oxford Hills Veterinary Hospital, Holden said, where it was discovered the bird had an open wound on its left side. He took X-rays and found the bird also suffered from broken bones.
Holden called the Avian Haven Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center in Freedom for assistance and was eventually connected with Sprenger.
Sprenger met with Holden on Wednesday and took the osprey to Bridgton to see if there was anything she could do. Realizing his wounds were too serious for her emergency treatment skills, Sprenger contacted a Bridgton veterinarian, who confirmed that the creature’s clavicle, or wishbone, and coracoid bone had been broken. The coracoid, she said Thursday, runs from the shoulder to the top of the breastbone and is responsible for supporting a bird’s flight muscles.
The bird also had torn skin and had dislocated both its shoulders, Sprenger said. “Any one of those four things alone would prevent the bird from flying, and possibly from ever flying again.”
It was decided the osprey would have to be euthanized.
Sprenger said the bird had strong muscles, and when she went to pick him up he still had the fish that had been found near him on the Handy Store Bridge.
“He was standing on it when I went to get him out of the kennel out back,” she said, referring to a kennel at Holden’s veterinary practice.
She called the whole story sad. “All I can speculate is, he had that really big fish and he took off from the water and he must have crossed over the bridge at the wrong time.”
Ospreys are not rare in the region, she said, but still are not frequently seen.
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