Expert: Roger Lederer - 7/31/2010

Question
Hi, I live in New Orleans, and yesterday I found a small (not baby) house finch clearly suffering from conjunctivitis. Of course, local vets will not take him in, but they provided me with the numbers for somewhat local sanctuaries (none in new orleans itself after the storm).
I have contacted a couple of these sanctuaries- one only cares for raptors, and the other is reluctant to take the bird for they fear its infection could endanger the other birds in their care. I was told to keep it comfortable and it probably wouldn't live. Well, it is living. It seems the sanctuaries I have contacted don't want it, and I am concerned about releasing it as it can and will infect other birds in the neighborhood, and as it is almost entirely blind, the neighborhood's feral cats would make short work of it.
Please tell me what to do. I don't know anything about birds- I am a dog/cat person.

Answer
There are not many options here if the people with the expertise won't help. Conjunctivitis is very contagious among house finches. If you found the bird near a feeder, the feeder and area need to be disinfected. Yes, keep it comfortable to be humane, but that's about all you can do. You can go to www.ornithology.com/rehab.html for advice on caring for wild birds and see http://www.birds.cornell.edu/hofi/hofifaqs.html for more information on House Finch conjunctivitis.