The best part is to release a bird into the wild: how Free Wings Rehabilitation Centre lives

A meeting with Viktor Shelvinsky, the owner of Free Wings rehabilitation centre for birds in the village of Kozhychi in the Lviv region and this year’s winner of the All-Ukrainian Animal Protection Award, begins with a bird rescue: 

“Now we are going to visit Mrs Nina. She called and said that she had an injured bird —  a small sparrowhawk. If the bird cannot escape, it means it is helpless and needs help. We have to take it away.” 

Viktor is regularly asked to help with birds: four times this day alone. He has a degree in veterinary medicine, so he provides the necessary assistance himself, taking the birds to his place. However, if necessary, he can consult by phone or video. 

Animals should live in dignity 

When we arrive at Nina’s place, Viktor examines the hawk: it turns out that it has a fracture of the right wing ulna. Later, Viktor tapes the bird’s wing to prevent it from getting even more damaged on the way. And then he puts a special cap on the hawk’s head that covers its eyes called a klobuk. Such caps were once used to calm game birds during transportation and hunting. Nowadays, the klobuk plays the same role for an injured hawk. 

Next, the bird will undergo tests, treatment and rehabilitation. If everything goes well, the hawk will soon be back in the sky, free to fly. 

According to Viktor, the most commonly injured birds are corvids, Accipitriformes, geese, ducks and owls — the most common species that live close to humans. They usually get injured because they collide with power lines, cars or windows. 

Injured birds are given first aid and, if necessary, taken to a clinic. After treatment, their fate depends on their condition. Completely healthy and viable birds are released into the wild. 

“If a bird has an injury incompatible with its vital activity, for example, it has no legs, the only option is euthanasia. Because this animal will not be able to live decently even in artificially created conditions”, says the veterinarian.

A home for yourself and the birds

Free Wings Rehabilitation Centre for birds has been operating for 22 years. It is arranged around Viktor’s house. When the head of the centre was choosing a place to build the house, he also took into account the fact that birds should settle there for treatment and rehabilitation. 

Birds recovering from treatment need more space, so they are transported, for example, to the Galician National Park or to the Roztochia Biosphere Reserve. There are all conditions for different species of birds there: there is a ban on hunting and, in general, there is almost no human influence. There are also lakes for waterfowl and flight aviaries for the red-listed birds with disabilities.

“If I had, for example, 36 hectares, I could turn all this into a large, full-fledged complex that provides assistance, from veterinary to post-rehabilitation. But this is unrealistic because there is no such resource. That’s why we cooperate with ornithologists, biologists, national parks and so on,” says Viktor. 

The rehabilitation centre operates on a volunteer basis: Viktor maintains it with his own money and charitable donations. Recently, thanks to UAnimals, the centre received food from its Czech colleagues. The ornithologist says he is happy to receive such help because birds need a lot of food and it often costs a lot of money. Viktor invests about 48 thousand hryvnias in the centre every month. 

Schoolchildren are frequent guests of the centre. Other people also come to see the birds. It happens that, after a visit, they take a bird that needs constant care. Viktor gives them only when he realises that it is a balanced and conscious decision. Emotions can play a cruel joke in this case, since caring for an animal and living with it are the responsibility that not everyone is ready for. And of course, to keep a bird at home, you need to create appropriate conditions. 

Illyusha, Lokhudra and Taziks

There is no quiet place in Free Wings — you can hear the birds singing, which does not stop for a moment. Currently, 63 species of birds live there. Some of them walk freely on the territory. Others have not yet fully recovered from their injuries, so they live in aviaries for now, but will eventually go outside as well. 

The birds at Free Wings include goldfinches, siskins, turtledoves, jays, barn owls, jackdaws, bullfinches, waxwings, various types of parrots and more. There are Nile or Egyptian geese, who came to the Lviv region from the Askania-Nova Reserve after rodents in the fields had been poisoned there; two long-eared owls with amputated right wings, they lost the ability to hunt and will not survive without human help; 21-year-old parrot Mark, who lived all his life in the same family and was abandoned because of the war; two peacocks that guard the territory of the centre no worse than a dog — an English setter. 

There are also three ravens in the centre: two of them live together as they were able to establish communication, and one more, a new arrival, is currently in a separate aviary in quarantine. All the ravens in the centre are called Taziks and given serial numbers, like in royal families. For example, Tazik XVII is currently in quarantine. His predecessors have already been cured, and 14 of them have even been released. 

In addition, Phaps bronzewing pigeons from the Kharkiv region live in the centre. According to Viktor, they are already set up for family life, so the males start building nests to win over a female. They are not limited to one — they have to build 5 to have a choice. 

Svayno, a pheasant evacuated from the zoo in Mykolaiv, lives in the same aviary with Kharkiv pigeons. These birds were placed together because they coexist without any problems. Other residents of the rehabilitation centre are settled according to the same principle. 

Svayno, Mark and Tazik XVIII are exceptions to the rule because most of the birds at Free Wings have no names. 

“I call only those who are many years old by name,” explains Viktor. “This parrot is 38 years old and he has been Ilyusha all his life. This is important for him because Ilyusha is an intelligent bird. He builds a bridge of trust to me because he hears his name. All the others — falcons, owls, and so on — do not need this.”

There is also Valera and Lokhudra, a pair of parrots that used to live in the Donetsk region. They are long-time residents of the rehabilitation centre. Viktor was forced to take them, like many other exotic birds: 

“I didn’t want exotics. I used to work at the National Academy of Sciences, ornithologists and I dealt exclusively with Ukrainian wild species. It seemed to me that exotics were the responsibility of people who had got such pets. But exotics came just like war: if it already exists, you are faced with the fact.” 

According to Viktor, unlike Ukrainian species that are adapted to living in our nature, keeping each exotic bird requires huge resources: houses with constant heat and ventilation have to be built, specific food is needed and much more. In his opinion, you should not revolve around keeping such birds only in a cage — you should help them adapt to living in the wild. 

The best and most pleasant thing, Viktor says, is to release a bird when it is ready. That is why the head of the rehabilitation centre does not get attached to birds. 

“You cannot love this bird. You can only do your best to return it to its environment,” he emphasises.