22/09/2026
Why did I have to die today?
I died because someone was trying to be kind.
Perhaps one person fed my parents. Perhaps many people did. They gave them treats because they loved seeing wild birds visit—and my parents brought some of that food back to me.
Today, I was diagnosed with nutritional osteodystrophy, also known as metabolic bone disease.
My beak was severely deformed. I could not feed myself properly, and I was emaciated.
My growing body had not received the correct balance of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D₃. The likely cause was inappropriate supplementary food—such as mince or plain muscle meat—being fed to my parents and then passed on to me.
Mince may look like a natural food for some birds, but it is not nutritionally equivalent to the whole prey they would find in the wild. It does not provide the bones, exoskeletons and balanced nutrients that a rapidly growing baby needs.
Without those nutrients, my bones did not develop properly.
Look at my beak. How could I feed myself with a beak like this?
The rest of my skeleton was also poorly mineralised. My bones were weak and at risk of painful fractures. I could never have flown, fed myself or survived normally in the wild.
I was euthanased today.
Many other birds like me will starve, suffer fractures or be taken by predators. The fortunate ones will be found and taken to a veterinarian, where their suffering can be ended humanely.
My life had barely begun. I did not even have all my feathers. I was still a baby.
How does this happen?
Diets deficient in calcium or vitamin D₃—or containing too much phosphorus in relation to calcium—can cause metabolic bone disease. Fast-growing chicks are particularly vulnerable.
Wildlife veterinarians and rehabilitators see birds like me during spring. We are found sitting on roads, unable to move or fly normally. Sometimes we are so weak that a person can simply pick us up. Others disappear before anyone notices, taken by predators or dying slowly from starvation.
In Western Australia, feeding wildlife without lawful authority is illegal under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2018.
I know you were only trying to be kind.
But if you love wildlife, please help in ways that do not harm us:
Plant native trees and shrubs.
Grow plants that support insects.
Provide clean water and safe natural spaces.
Keep cats securely contained.
Please allow wild parents to find the natural, nutritionally complete food their babies need.
Please don’t sign our death warrant by feeding us.
