Red Book saker falcon wounded by poachers gets wings extensions so it can fly again

A team of Irkutsk Zoo Gallery vets created feather extensions of syringe needles and glue to reconstruct both wings of the traumatised bird. 

The young saker falcon - to be sold to a rich buyer at the United Arab Emirates if not police intervention - was tied up with a rope so strongly that it lost most of the wing feathers, and would have died without urgent medical help. 

The bird was caught along with a peregrine falcon in Siberia, and was hidden inside a sofa by the poachers. 

The other bird was unharmed and got released within days of being found, but the saker falcon was unable to fly and hunt.

It went on hunger strike.

Feathers from previously hunted falcons were glued into the stub of the shaft - or races - which remained on the injured bird’s wing. Pictures: Irkutsk Zoo Gallery

‘The bird was disappearing in front of our eyes as it refused to eat and wouldn’t accept a single treat. We feared it could die’, said Liudmila Ivushkina, director of Irkutsk Zoo Gallery.

The amazing wing repair job was completed at Irkutsk Zoo with the help of ‘usual household glue’.  

Feathers from previously hunted falcons were glued into the stub of the shaft - or races - which remained on the injured bird’s wing.

‘The poachers were either inexperienced or in a hurry, but they pulled the rope so tightly that the bird was seriously injured,’ said Liudmila.

‘We tried different methods. At first we tried to connect them with minuscule nails, it didn’t work. Next we took syringe needles which we dipped into glue and stuck them inside feathers so that they acted like rods.

‘We cared for the bird for a day to see if everything.

‘Realising things looked good, we released it.’

The bird was caught along with a peregrine falcon in Siberia, and was hidden inside a sofa by the poachers. Pictures: Russian Investigative Committee

The bird was caught along with a peregrine falcon in Siberia, and was hidden inside a sofa by the poachers. 

A video showed the falcon flying low but successfully over a field before vanishing into the wild. 

The specialists say the feathers would have regrown but only after two years. 

The poachers are now detained and face up to eight years in jail.

A team of Irkutsk Zoo Gallery vets created feather extensions of syringe needles and glue to reconstruct both wings of the traumatised bird. Pictures: Irkutsk Zoo Gallery