The RSPCA in Brisbane is struggling to cater for the large number of baby birds handed in by well wishers.

In most cases the animals have to be returned by volunteers to the very place they were picked up.

Jessica Case reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Bird season is here and it’s not just the trees they’re are filling, it’s the RSPCA shelters too.

Its Wacol centre has seen an unusually large fluctuation in the number of birds being brought in and they all need a medical check.

It’s taxing the RSPCA’s hospital which also cares for other animals.

Nicole Bryant, RSPCA Vet: “With baby birds ideally we would love to get them back out to their parents. So we have volunteer drivers that will take them back out there and try and reunite them with their parents and we do have a good success rate with that.”

Fledgling birds, like these little Noisy Miners, are able to take care of themselves, while only very young nestlings like this can’t.

The RSPCA, has some timley advice.

Nicole Bryant, RSPCA Vet: “If it does have feathers and looks like it can fly and looks perfectly healthy, you can stick it in a branch in a tree and if its parents come down to feed it then it should be fine.”

Around 50 to 60 birds are brought here every week. The RSPCA is encouraging people to only bring in nestlings. And with Christmas just around the corner there are other animals here that desperately need a home.

The RSPCA is keen to remind people it constantly needs to find carers for birds and homes for all types of animals.

But in the meantime these canines are taken out for walks three times a day, and thrive on some one-on-one attention.

Before adoption they’re vaccinated and given a clean bill of health.

Jessica Case, QUT News.