Yikes- She Trapped a Hawk !!

[RSKY]

Several years ago I joined one of my wife's middle school classes to tour a small local zoo that a fellow had behind his business. This guy was the one the local game wardens called if they found a wounded wild animal that needed knowledgeable care. He ended up legally keeping some critters that could not survive on their own in the wild. One of these critters was a very large owl. Scott's wife was the one that gave the tour and she started hooting at the owl before she got to the cage and he started hooting back at her. She had on a very thick padded leather glove on her left hand. It came all the way up to her elbow. Apparently the owl recognized her because it got all exited when she walked up to the cage. She opened the cage door and he jumped/flopped/flew out and landed on her RIGHT arm. The one without the glove. The lady jerked her hand back and the owl fell to the ground. She immediately put her left hand down and he hopped up on it. As she gave her speech to the thirty or so middle school kids I was standing to the side and could see the blood dripping. I asked her about it and she showed it to us. The talon had gone in near the base of her thumb on the top of her hand and came out in her palm. Her palm had two or three more wounds from the other talons. It looked BAD!! She told the kids over and over that the owl was her buddy and did not mean to hurt her. She emphasized to the kids that you had to leave wild animals alone because they could hurt you without meaning to. I doubt if any that saw her hand wanted to get near an owl. After the kids walked off she showed me a few more places that her friend had accidently left scars on her arm.

Point I am trying to make is that the hawk you freed could have inflicted serious wounds on you if he had wanted to. Seems like he instinctively knew you were trying to help.

Thank you for freeing that majestic animal.

RSKY

 

[kebo]

Outstanding job by the OP! Thank you for helping out. And yet, we have another member on this forum who admitted to shooting woodpeckers (a federally protected species like the hawk) simply because they were pecking on the wood on the side of his house. There are other and better means to deal with that sort of nuisance.

 

[rmorey]

Good story, great outcome. Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

 

[Jerry/MT]

great save! Looks like a red tailed hawk. Better get that net down or the next one may not be as lucky.

 

[AchingBack]

Awesome experience, thanks for sharing. In order to protect pine trees from beavers, wrapped some bird netting wrapped around the base of them. One day while out check on them I noticed a gopher snake was tangled up in the netting, and had probably been there for some time. The poor thing was still alive, and slowly slithered away after I cut it loose. After that, I removed the netting from all the trees. Thank God, several years later they are still standing. Just regular chicken wire is a better alternative for protection than the netting, and is harder for wildlife to become trapped in.

 

[Fidler4]

Great story thanks for sharing.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Just regular chicken wire is a better alternative for protection than the netting, and is harder for wildlife to become trapped in.

That is a good idea.
We have had this netting up for quite a long time, several years. Ocassionally a bird and once a skunk would get stuck inside but not intangled and we would just lift the side and set it on top so it was open and they were able to escape on their own. This is the first time anything actually got entangled. I am thinking there was a mouse in there and the hawk just happen to hit the one overlapping seam we have in the center to get inside. And it would have been flying talons first.

 

[Gordon Gould]

My daughter volunteer works for Audubon out in Portland OR as a sort of nurse/surgery assistant. They have a facility there where they take in injured birds and either return them to the wild or keep them in there educational exhibit area if they are unable to make it on their own in the wild. I have watched her handle eagles, hawks, and owls going thru their rehabilitation.

 

[oosik]

Fantastic experience. Great courage on your part. A mature red-tail can do serious damage with its talons.

 

[randy41]

nice job saving the hawk. i use similar netting and had a black snake tangled up in it. had to cut him out.