Brazilian vets race to save heron with cup lodged in its throat

By Sergio Queiroz

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian veterinarians are running against the clock to find and save a heron spotted with a plastic cup struck in its throat in the city of Rio de Janeiro, as they estimate the animal could die within five days if the object is not removed.  

Jeferson Pires, a veterinary and biologist working at the center for wild animals at Estacio college, first spotted the bird earlier this week among riparian vegetation in the west side of Rio de Janeiro, and shared its situation on his social media platforms. 

"Although we frequently find the presence of plastic inside the stomachs of animals, we have never caught a case like this," he told Reuters on Wednesday, stressing the large size of the plastic -apparently a 200-milimeter (6.7-ounce) cup of a popular guarana drink.

The heron will not be able to eat with an object that big horizontally placed at its throat, and is expected to gradually become weaker and die of hunger within three to five days, he added.

"Human beings still have not realized that we need nature, but nature does not need us to live," environmentalist Isabelle de Loys said, adding the environmental situation in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil is getting worse. 

The veterinarians' plan to save the heron, identified as a Cocoi heron (Ardea cocoi) - the largest species of herons in Latin America that is closely related to the great blue heron - is to capture the bird once it is too weak to fly away, and then proceed with a surgery to remove the plastic cup, according to Pires.

In order to save the animal, fist veterinarians will need to locate the heron at the right time, and capture the bird which is about 1.25 meters (4.1 feet) tall and has a wingspan of some 1.8 meters, he added.

(Reporting by Sergio Queiroz in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Andre Romani; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Sandra Maler)