What’s paralysing thousands of rainbow lorikeets? Scientists search for the cause as volunteer carers are overwhelmed

Dr Tim Portis assesses the health of a lorikeet at the RSPCA wildlife hospital in Queensland. More than 5,000 birds with signs of lorikeet paralysis syndrome have been taken in at wildlife care centres so far this year. Photograph: David Kelly/The Guardian

Dr Tim Portas pulls the patient from a cardboard box, wraps him in a towel and touches a cotton bud on his eye to see if he can blink.

Patient number 1,433,093 is one of about 3,500 Rainbow lorikeets that have come into the RSPCA’s wildlife hospital near Brisbane since the beginning of the year with a mystery paralysis.