22/08/2026
💔 The Sad Story of Hans the Kookaburra — Please Don’t Feed Wild Birds 💔
This is Hans. And sadly, his story doesn’t have the happy ending we hope and strive for.
Hans was found lying in the middle of the road near the public school in Holgate. A kind member of the public stopped, picked him up and took him to a veterinary clinic in Erina.
There were no obvious wounds. His wings and pelvis showed no signs of fractures, and initially, Hans appeared ready to go into care. But there was one significant concern: he was severely underweight.
Ines from Phoenix Wildlife Rescue Inc. took Hans into care and began slowly nursing him back to health. At first, he had to be force-fed, but then came little victories. ❤️
After a few days, Hans started picking up food by himself.
Every day brought another small improvement.
After a week, he was strong enough to perch by himself, sitting on his branch and watching the world around him.
After almost two weeks, we thought we might be ready for a flight test.
Sadly, Hans couldn’t gain enough height or maintain his balance properly.
Something wasn’t right.
Hans was taken to the wonderful vets at Somersby Animal Hospital for a thorough examination and X-rays. What those X-rays revealed broke our hearts.
Hans had metabolic bone disease — the devastating result of prolonged malnutrition and severe calcium deficiency.
And this is where we need to talk about something that many people do with the very best intentions:
❌ Please don’t feed wild kookaburras mince, meat or human food.
It might seem like you’re helping. A kookaburra happily taking food from your hand can feel like a beautiful connection with nature.
But it can actually be incredibly harmful.
Kookaburras are specialised predators. Their natural diet provides the nutrients, calcium and balance they need to develop and maintain a strong skeleton.
When they are regularly given easy foods such as mince, they can become dependent on this unnatural food source, fill up on nutritionally inadequate meals and stop hunting for the prey their bodies actually need.
Over time, serious nutritional deficiencies can develop.
And the consequences can be catastrophic.
Hans’s skeleton had become dangerously fragile. Even relatively minor impacts could cause fractures to bones that should have been strong.
The accident that brought Hans into care may have caused fractures that later healed — but the X-ray told us that his problems had started long before that day.
Hans had been struggling for much longer.
And despite everything he was given in care — nutritious food, warmth, safety, medication, love and round-the-clock TLC — we couldn’t undo the damage caused by the nutritional deficiencies he had suffered before coming to us.
Eventually, the heartbreaking decision had to be made to let Hans go. 😔
This is never an easy decision. We do everything we can to nurse them to health but when the animal is suffering, sometimes it’s the kindest thing to do.
We will never know exactly who fed Hans or how long it had been happening.
And that’s not the point.
The point is that feeding wildlife can have consequences that aren’t visible until it is too late.
So please, if you love our native birds, let them be wild. 🐦
Don’t feed them mince.
Don’t feed them bread.
Don’t feed them leftovers.
Don’t feed them human food.
Instead, enjoy watching them hunt, forage and behave as nature intended.
The kindest thing you can give a wild bird is the freedom to remain wild.
Hans deserved that chance.
💔 Fly free, little Hans. We are so sorry we couldn’t save you.
