A rare species of albatross found injured on Chapel Street could be more than 2500km from home.

Sooty the light-mantled sooty albatross is being nursed back to health at Oropi Native Bird Rescue Haven after being discovered in very poor condition on the side of the road last month.

Chrissy Jefferson with 'vicious as hell” Sooty. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Haven owner Chrissy Jefferson says it's the first of this species she's encountered in her 54 years of bird rescue work in the Bay.

'They're from the Antipodes Islands, down near the Antarctic. It's very rare for them to be found here.

'It's even stranger he was found on the road; if he'd turned up on the beach, it wouldn't have been as strange.”

Sooty, with his 'vicious” temper, is more than twice the size of a domestic cat and has an estimated two-metre wingspan.

'He's a very attractive bird.”

Initially taken to ARRC Wildlife Centre, Sooty was passed on to Chrissy, who says he was in 'very poor condition” being dehydrated, full of worms and starved.

'He's been wormed, and he gets 300ml of fluid, split into two feeds each day.

'A tube is fed into him, which involves putting a tube down the throat and straight into the stomach.”

Sooty is also eating about 24 fish per day. While he initially needed food forced down his throat, Chrissy says he's now swallowing on his own.

The next step will be to make sure he is waterproofed – a must before he's released.

'You just can't take them to the beach and let him go. Because he's not going in the water and not cleaning himself, he's not waterproof.

'I'm trying to get a new pool; with albatross they need deeper water to get them waterproof.”

After 54 years operating the bird rescue service with her own money, Oropi Native Bird Rescue Haven last week gained charitable trust status.

Chrissy can now apply for funding grants, which she's hopeful will ease any financial burdens.

'I've been funding this entire operation by myself. I love it – but I've not had a holiday for 26 years. 'You just never stop, you're never away from it and you can't switch off.”