The nomination "Responsible for those...": a volunteer from Kurgan has become an intermediary in her region between those who find birds and rehabilitation centers.
Inna Zhuravleva is greeted daily by 10 seagulls with broken wings at her summer cottage in Kurgan. Sometimes it's 11, because the seagull Belka has already grown up, recovered and flew away "into the wild." But sometimes, for old times' sake, he comes to visit, the Yekaterinburg Online journalists write. Inna Zhuravleva is a civil engineer by education. She works as a sales manager for a trading company. And by vocation, she is a volunteer. She cannot pass by our smaller brothers in trouble.
"Birds are from childhood. Grandpa always kept canaries, and I had parrots. The children carried home weakened pigeons, and grandfather helped to treat and feed them. I see that the animal is in trouble, and I try to help. I don't put birds as a priority, it just so happened: absolutely no one helps birds in the entire Kurgan region. So I had to do it myself," says Inna Zhuravleva.
Unfortunately, there are no ornithological veterinarians in Kurgan yet. Therefore, "difficult" birds are urgently sent to the nearest rehabilitation center in the Sverdlovsk region. In summer, Inna Zhuravleva keeps birds outdoors to keep them healthy. In addition to seagulls, four owls, three jackdaws and three crows live in aviaries on the site, which the volunteer built with her own hands. All of them were traumatized and now they are "not allowed to leave" - they will die in nature without human care. They can't really fly, but they enjoy life, eat, play and communicate with an appetite.
Inna was the first to have a marsh owl with an open wing fracture, which was named Owl. Then Shura: an employee of a security agency went fishing and found an owl with an injured wing on the highway. Umka the owl was found in the village near the road. And Hedwig the owl was shot down on the highway, the bird received a contusion of the spinal cord. He can fly, but he can't sit on a branch anymore. In winter, birds are housed in a warm room on the territory of the Chance shelter. Since last year, volunteers have been working under the auspices of this animal rehabilitation shelter. More recently, Inna worked alone and, together with her colleagues, organized a group in Kurgan to help the birds of the Urals.
"The Chance Rehabilitation Center for disabled animals in Kurgan is our base and support. We've been helping birds in trouble for two years now. So far, there is no place for summer outdoor aviaries for birds on the territory of the shelter, so in the summer they are on my property," Inna continues her story.
Inna Zhuravleva now also has swifts in her care, a small cheglok falcon, and Alyosha the corncrake has become absolutely tame in three years of living together. The polar owl went to a rehabilitation center, hoping to get back into the wild. The basis of the bird's diet is chickens and small river fish. And for owls, volunteers take frozen food mice as the basis of the diet. Chickens and quail, as well as mice, are bought from local farmers. Insects are bought in Yekaterinburg.
"We are ordinary volunteers. We act as intermediaries for birds. We provide first aid, help with temporary overexposure and delivery to a rehabilitation center for wild birds. We advise people on how to take care of injured birds on their own. And what is important is that people are beginning to understand who and in what cases it is possible and even necessary to take away from the wild, and who is absolutely forbidden. Environmental literacy is increasing. We, the volunteers, enlighten and explain as much as we can," Inna Zhuravleva shares her experiences.
Photos from Inna Zhuravleva's personal archive and Yekaterinburg Online.