Chicks for the birds of prey: How the sanctuary in Otterfing satisfies the hunger of its patients

Created: 01/23/2022, 10:00 am

By: Katrin Hager

A temporary home for injured or weakened birds of prey is the owl and bird of prey sanctuary in Otterfing.

Alfred Aigner and Natalie Simmeth ensure that owls, sparrowhawks, falcons and other birds regain their strength and can be released into the wild.

© tp

The old federal government banned chick killing on January 1, 2022.

There were certainly buyers: zoos and falconries.

How does the sanctuary in Otterfing feed its birds?

Otterfing - It is an outgrowth of industrialized mass animal production: Male chicks are "superfluous" in laying hen production.

And because they are mostly breeds that are strong at laying eggs but not at preparing meat, the little roosters are gassed.

This was also the case in hatcheries in Germany – until 2021: the old federal government still banned the killing of chicks on January 1, 2022.

There were certainly buyers for the killed chicks: zoos and falconries.

There are also hungry mouths - or beaks - in the district with an appetite for day chicks: the patients in the bird of prey sanctuary in Otterfing.

Do they have to stay hungry now?

"No," assures Alfred Aigner, who has been running a rescue center on a voluntary basis for around 40 years.

He does not have the problem that the ban on killing chicks in Germany has dried up a source of feed: the large feed suppliers, explains Aigner, would operate internationally anyway.

Just like the company that has been supplying the rescue center in Otterfing for around ten years.

Pork is unsuitable for birds of prey

With goods from the Czech Republic or Italy, for example. It not only supplies the station with day-old chicks. But also with mice that come from control groups from test series in the pharmaceutical industry. "I used to buy frozen chicks from a hatchery near Freising," explains Aigner. “But then they stopped, it was no longer worth it for them. The large producers are based abroad anyway.” Buzzards, eagles & Co. in the sanctuary are now getting nothing different than they were a year ago. Only other meat is not on the table; it would make the birds of prey sick: "Pork, for example, has way too much uric acid."

Anyone who thinks that the "by-products" from animal production are cheap is wrong: last year, when Aigner nursed 220 patients, the feed costs added up to around 7,000 euros. "It's all very expensive." Prices are rising here too. Not because of the ban on killing chicks, but because transport costs are rising, says Aigner.

The feed costs are not the only major item in the operation of the bird of prey sanctuary, explains Aigner - but also veterinary treatment and medication.

"People have a crude idea," observes the voluntary bird of prey rescuer.

"They hand you 20 euros for 'their' bird," says Aigner.

"But if it has major plumage damage, it's here for a whole year until the moult is complete." He then patiently explains to the animal lovers more about the actual costs - and also puts them in relation: "80 euros is a tankful.

It's gone in a week for most people.

Then I ask if the life of a red kite is not worth it.”

Donations are important to the station

The 80 euros are an average value.

"Of course, it always depends on what the bird is missing," says Aigner.

"Once a sparrowhawk has crashed into a window, it's only here for a couple of days, and it costs next to nothing.

But if a bird has a fracture, the veterinary costs quickly reach 400, 500 euros.” The operation of the sanctuary in 2021 will cost around 16,000 euros.

She is dependent on permanent support, for example from districts and municipalities, because: “You can never count on donations.”

Aigner therefore always has to weigh up: "Is it a case of nursing or does the bird have a real second chance?" Around 40 percent of the animals are so badly injured that it is not possible to release them back into the wild.

"The aviaries are so full that I cannot record these cases." Even if he is sorry.

Incidentally, the most common causes are accidents in road or rail traffic.

"Every second bird is approached."

The moments of happiness are all the greater.

All patients are ringed before being released into the wild.

"If after ten or 15 years a ring find is reported to us and maybe even from Africa if it is a migratory bird - then the bird has really used its second chance." ag

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