Rehabilitation of an orphan offspring of small home swallow conducted at the woods and zoo Fábio Barreto in Ribeirão Preto

Abstract

The urban growth phenomenon directly affects the fauna living around towns and cities, which is caused by the invasion of constructions in animals’ natural habitats, forcing them to adapt to the urban environment. The interaction between human beings and the fauna located in towns and cities contributes for the arrival of traumatized adult animals or their offspring at Wildlife Screening Centers (CETAS – Centros de Triagem de Animais Silvestres). The aim of this paper is to report the events which happened to a bird specimen, specifically the small home swallow (Pygochelidon cyanoleuca). It was an orphan offspring, which was delivered by citizens to the Woods Zoo Fábio Barreto, in Ribeirão Preto/SP. This species of swallow eats insects captured during flight. However, the bird refused to feed from the insects offered, forcing the zoo’s team of caregivers to create an alternative diet, which was successful, by providing all nutritional needs in emergency cases such as this, when compared to an insect-based diet, as demonstrated in this paper. The offspring was submitted to feather grafts in order to speed up its rehabilitation, despite the fact that this procedure is difficult in swallows, due to the bird’s small size, this event has not been reported so far in the literature. The alternative diet and the feather grafts reported in this paper may contribute to help other professionals to develop these procedures.