Gizzard impaction and duodenal perforation in a yellow-billed spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

A yellow-billed spoonbill kept at the zoo was found dead. As a result of the necropsy, the stomach (gizzard and proventriculus) and duodenum were full of undigested fish bones, and the undigested sharp fish bones were lodged in the gastric mucosa and clumped together, blocking the lumen. Thereafter, the intestinal wall was perforated and peritonitis occurred causing death. The cause of the fish spines becoming lodged in the gastrointestinal tract is unknown. It can only be assumed that there was a lack of a mechanism for the yellow-billed spoonbill in a zoo to go around and pick up grit or small stones and assist in mechanical crushing in the gizzard.