The Bedford Estates, LondonA wild buzzard which was found injured within the Park back in May has been successfully released back into the wild!
After a long period of rehabilitation and care by The Raptor Foundation, the bird - named Madame due to her feisty attitude! - made a fantastic recovery from her wing and eye injuries.
Madame was found grounded in an open area in the Park by animal keepers, with injuries to one eye and feathers missing from parts of head. Head of Reserves Tom dropped the injured buzzard into the The Raptor Foundation team, who also identified that the mature bird was also underweight.
Liz Blows from The Raptor Foundation explains that the recovery process wasn't straightforward: "Rehabilitation took a little longer than hoped because the buzzard began to moult and lost all her tail and primary wing feathers, which we needed to help with flying.
We returned Madame back to the Park to release her back into her territory within the grounds, where we hoped she will reunite with her mate."
After careful planning the release process was all over in a matter of minutes, as Madame flew high into the sky and into the treetops!
Chris Freeman, Animal Development Officer at the Park said:“It was fantastic to see this wonderful bird fully recovered and released back to her own woodland territory, where she might still have a mate waiting for her. It was obvious she had received expert care from the team at the Raptor Foundation, as she looked fit and healthy, wasting no time in flying out to restart her life here on the Woburn estate.”
The Raptor Foundation and Woburn Safari Park are dedicated members of BIAZA, working at the forefront of conservation. Madame's successful rehabilitation and release is another important step in conserving native species locally.