If you find an injured bird you must treat it carefully, trying not to hurt it and, of course, trying not to be hurt by it, especially by its beak and claws. The best solution is to cover it with a towel or a coat and afterwards put it into a box. The box must have several holes in it so that the bird can breathe. Then, the bird must be carried to a quite and dark place. It mustn’t be fed at all!
In Spain, every Comunidad has a “Wildlife Recovery Centre”:
Grefa (Grupo de Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat
In Catalonia, you may call to the phone number 935617000 and the Forest Guards will come and take it, or either you may take the bird to the closest recovery centre yourself. In England we recommend that you contact your nearest RSPCA centre.
CENTRE DE RECUPERACIÓ D’AUS DE TORREFERRUSSA
Crta. Sabadell / Sta. Perpètua Km 4,5
08130 Sta. Perpètua de Mogoda (Barcelona) – Tel.- 935600052
CENTRE DE RECUPERACIÓ D’AUS DE VALLCALENT
Camí de Vallcalent, 63 – 25003 Lleida – Tel.- 973282276
CENTRE DE RECUPERACIÓ D’AUS DEL PARC NATURAL DELS AIGUAMOLLS DE L’EMPORDÀ
Mas del Cortalet – 17486 Castelló d’Empúries (Girona) Tel.- 675783329
CENTRE DE RECUPERACIÓ D’AUS DEL PARC NATURAL DEL DELTA DE L’EBRE
Plaça 20 de maig s/n – 43580 Deltebre (Tarragona) – Tel.- 977489511
These centers belonging to the Ministry of Environment of the Generalitat of Catalonia. They have everything you need for recovery, and may be responsible for its reintroduction.
In case you do not possible either above options, you can take the injured bird on top of Eagles, and we derive to Centre de Recuperació de Torreferrussa.
Dangers
The endangerment of certain species of bird of prey is a relatively recent phenomenon. Obviously the causes for their deaths are diverse and differ from one region to another, but we can point out some of the main reasons:
• Hunting is a problem, most of all with firearms, but also attacking nests and using traps.
• The destruction of their habitat, through construction (highways, etc.), the landscape’s modification and the aggressive deforestation.
• The use of chemical products, such as insecticides used too commonly in agriculture (i.e., DDT and organchlorydes).
• Indirect deaths, for instance due to collisions with the many miles of power wires, or to the electrical shocks when the birds stand on a wire that is too close to another. They also die poisoned, since in most game preserves poison is still used to reduce the number of some predators, such as foxes, cats, and weasels, and those animals are eaten by birds of prey, mostly by carrion eaters.
