Not so swift (but trying): Injured Sisso gets safety harness - attached to a piece of string - so he can learn to fly again



The belief is there and he's raring to go but Sisso the injured swift will have to wait just a little longer before he becomes truly airborne.

For being strapped in a special harness which is suspended from the ceiling by a length of string is as good as it gets.

Seven months ago Sisso damaged his right wing and although he has been gradually nursed back to health he is unable to fly. Before the harness came along all he could do was flap aimlessly on the ground.

Holding up well: Sisso flies in a harness, made from bandages and gauze pads, attached to a length of string

The swift is being treated at an Israeli animal hospital and it is thanks to this ingenious device - which resembles a mobile in a child's bedroom - that he can practise flying.

Fitting snugly into a red tube-like vest made of bandages and gauze pads, Sisso has holes for his head, wings, feet and tail.

A string is fixed to the harness and attached to the ceiling which allows him to whizz around a room at the Ramat Gan Safari Park Animal Hospital without falling to the floor.

However, until the muscles in his weakened right wing become strong enough, he will be kept indoors and in the sling.

Vet Dr Ariela Rosenzweig said staff now hope to build a daily training programme so he can extend the amount of time he can stay airborne. The aim is to one day return him to nature.

As a common swift, Sisso would normally spend most of his life in the air, looking for food.

Since he cannot feed himself while in the hospital, every hour staff have to feed him insects.

On a wing and a prayer: A vet at Ramat Gan Safari Park Animal Hospital watches Sisso flap his wings



