RSPCA performs world-first eye surgery on Bird of Paradise

Port Moresby Nature Park has congratulated the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) for what may have been a world-first eye surgery a park’s male Raggiana Birds of Paradise.
The bird had sustained irreparable damage which required the eye to be removed and closed shut.
RSPCA’s new clinic manager Dr Jessica Hoopes performed the surgery late last week.
She said that in research prior to commencing the surgery, she was unable to find any records of shuch being conducted on a Bird of Paradise before.
Nature Park curator Brett Smith said in a statement: “The bird was from our large walk-through aviary, so it is hard to determine the actual cause of the injury.
“As soon as we had determined there was a problem, we immediately contacted the RSPCA.
“It was wonderful to have Hoopes at the RSPCA of PNG, as the procedure was exceptionally technical in nature that even many overseas zoo vets would be nervous to perform.”
Hoopes said while she had performed similar surgeries on dogs and cats, this was the first time she had performed on such an iconic species such as the Reggiana Bird of Paradise, the national bird.
She said the bird would make a full recovery and be able to continue living well at Nature Park.
The male bird has already returned to Nature Park where it is being monitored by wildlife keepers.
It will be returned to display in the coming weeks. Port Moresby Nature Park and RSPCA have held a close partnership since the park formed in 2012.
The RSPCA has provided veterinary care required for over 350 native animals that live at the park.
The park has also enabled past RSPCA vets the opportunity to train in Australian zoos.
It has sent its own wildlife-keeping staff to the park’s sister-zoo, Zoos Victoria, for vet nurse training.
Nature Park is PNG’s only member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association of Australasia.
The park recently sat the highest level of international zoo welfare accreditation administered by Zoo and Aquarium Association of Australasia.
This required an auditor to travel to PNG and assess the park’s operation and standards of animal care over a two-day review.
The park is awaiting confirmation of the audit results.
The park has almost completed construction of a new Bird of Paradise precinct consisting of seven walk-through exhibits.
These will hold and showcase a number of Bird of Paradise species currently held at the park off public display.
The facility is scheduled to open at the end of October.
For the past eight years, park general-manager Michelle McGeorge has also sat as a volunteer committee member for the RSPCA.
She has sat on the RSPCA’s building sub-committee, which recently saw the construction of a new veterinary clinic at the Waigani RSPCA.