Guest guest Posted August 17, 2008 Report Share Posted August 17, 2008 'Parrotmedics' rescue polly August 16 2008 at 09:48AM By Jacques BreytenbachA fine-feathered Pretoria resident was fortunate on Friday that a pair of "parrotmedics" were on hand to rush him to a "polyclinic" in an ambulance with lights blazing and sirens screaming. On his arrival at the Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital in Onderstepoort, Dr Werner Odendaal and his crew were ready and waiting."I gave him one look and realised the patient - an African Grey parrot - had a 10 percent chance of making it."He had seizures and was falling in and out of consciousness. We placed him on a drip, warmed him up and made sure he received proper oxygen."From there we could only sit and wait for the best," the doctor said. The early morning emergency started when Netcare 911 paramedic Gert Oellermann noticed the parrot in a tree near Netcare 911's headquarters. He climbed the tree but when he caught the bird he realised it was in bad shape. The paramedic called friend and colleague Albert van der Westhuizen who was on duty at the time.He owns an African Grey and said he realised they had to act fast or the bird would die so they contacted Onderstepoort and then rushed the bird there.By late Friday Odendaal said the parrot's chance of survival had increased to 40 percent."As he gets better, we will start giving him solid foods so he can regain his strength. I'm very glad that Netcare 911 went to the lengths they did to save the parrot's life. "It's good to see that these paramedics are so passionate about animals," he said. This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on August 16, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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