Magpie lucky to survive after shot from air rifle

A MAGPIE has narrowly escaped death after a pellet from an air rifle just missed his vital organs.

Senior Vet at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Hospital Michael Pyne pictured with the young

A MAGPIE has narrowly escaped death after a pellet from an air rifle just missed his vital organs.

The incident has raised concern among the wildlife carers, coming only days after a kangaroo was found shot with an arrow at the Coombabah Wetlands.

The bird, found in Helensvale and brought to the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital on Tuesday, was lucky to survive according to vets.

“He’s a very lucky magpie,” Senior vet Michael Pyne said.

“He really just presented as an injured bird and was well down the triage list. It wasn’t until we took X-rays to investigate what was going on that we found a pellet lodged in his abdomen.”

Dr Pyne said the magpie was doing “really well” considering the trauma he had been through. The bird will undergo an endoscopy over the next few days to determine whether or not he will require surgery to remove the pellet, lodged in his abdomen.

Senior Vet at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Hospital Michael Pyne pictured with the young magpie that has been shot with an air rifle. Pic by David Clark

“We will have to have a good look to make sure it’s not causing any more problems, if it is then we’ll have to try and perform surgery but it could be the case that it’s best for the patient to leave it in there.”

At least five birds are brought to the accident and emergency facility with gunshot wounds each year, with a higher concentration of deliberate attacks over the school holidays and hoped this incident would have parents on high alert.

“Typically we do see a bit of a run of this deliberate cruelty during school holidays,” he said.

“Parents should be conscious of what their kids are doing and you’d like to think that anyone that had a gun in the house wouldn’t be letting anybody near it.”