North Durban duo strives to rescue feathered friends

WHEN residents, Sarah Keyser and Claire Matthis, set-up Broken Wings, a Durban rescue group for wild birds of South Africa (including pigeons and mynahs), they set out at raising awareness on birdlife in the area as well as helping birds in need of rehabilitation. Broken Wings also has an adoption group for unreleasable pigeons.

“I’ve rescued a number of birds and the idea behind setting up the group, was breaking the stereotype on pigeons. So many people have this idea that they are flying rats who are disease-ridden and it simply isn’t true. We care for a lot of wild birds and a large number of pigeons and mynahs and that’s how Claire and I actually came up with the name for our rescue.

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“Most of the pigeons we look after have broken wings, hence the name. Claire and I actually met on Facebook before forming the rescue group, before that I was the Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife depot for the Ballito area for rescued birds. Once the Umgeni Bird Park stopped being a depot for rescued birds, I stepped in to help for the north Durban area,” the uMhlanga resident said.

Keyser added she was in the process of setting up the rescue as a non-profit organisation.

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The duo have also set-up a Facebook page, Broken Wings Durban.

“We created group to inform and educate the members on the birds that we receive on a daily bases. Our Facebook group focuses on pigeons as well as they get very little or no support at all compared to other birds and animals in the area and world wide. We hope the page is a fun and informative group,” she said.

All birds dropped off with the rescue group, with the exception of pigeons and mynahs are later transported to the Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Yellowwood Park.

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