A beautiful Red-tailed Hawk, whose broken wing healed with the help of wildlife rehab staff at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, was returned to the wild this afternoon, released in the blustery winds at the edge of La
ke Erie. The hawk was set free in the very same Lorain backyard where it was picked up with a broken wing in September. Michael Bolmeyer, the man who rescued the injured bird, was there to witness the successful conclusion of the Red-tail’s rehabilitation.
Bolmeyer brought the injured hawk into the Center on September 17. Staff wrapped the fractured left wing for 2 – 3 weeks and placed the hawk on pain medicine. Once the bones healed, the bird underwent 2 weeks of physical therapy and was then moved into a flight cage. The hawk completed the final stages of flight conditioning at the Lake County Metroparks Penitentiary Glen wildlife rehab facility.
Wildlife Rehabilitation Specialist Amy LeMonds transported the bird fro
m Lake County to Lorain for today’s release. After LeMonds gently tossed the hawk up into the wind, it quickly soared into a nearby tree, with no signs of the previous injury. LeMonds told the assembled news photographers and Bolmeyer's family that seeing the majestic hawk flying free was worth the effort that went into rehab. “This is the moment we work for.”
Bolmeyer says he was uncertain about what to do with the large, injured predator he found in his backyard. Center Rehab staff told him exactly how to safely pick up the injured hawk and transport it to the Center. “They walked me through everything I needed to know right over the telephone.”
Photographers from WestLife and the Elyria Chronicle Telegram snapped the release and WOIO-TV aired the event on the 4 and 11 p.m. newscasts. See WKYC-TV Videographer Shane Snider's story on the Channel 3 website. Visit the Center's Wildlife Rehabiliation pages here.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Rehabbed Red-tailed Hawk Flies Free Again!
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3 comments:
I have also found a beautiful Red Tailed Hawk which had been hit by a pickup truck leaving it to die in a bar ditch ! I found the hawk about 15 days ago and have been feeding it raw Buffalo meat, and giving it a good place to recover out of the weather. The hawk was in pretty bad shape when I rescued it but now, he has his strength back and running and purching on broken braches in the pen. But he is still having trouble with his wing ! I will take care of this hawk until it is well and can fly away back to nature again. The bird is in Oklahoma where I found it.....
Thank you for rescuing this hawk, but please, please get this hawk to a permitted rehabber. You are violating the migratory bird act and a few other laws. You cannot release the bird back into the wild without letting it get it's muscles back into hunting shape. It will die of starvation without proper time in a flight chamber. Please!
Lake Erie Nature & Science Center's Rehabilitation staff are members of the OWRA (Ohio Wildlife Rehabilitators Association), the NWRA (National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association), and the IWRC (International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council) and perform our wildlife rehabilitation activities under permits from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Division of Wildlife. These are all good resources for finding a permitted rehabber in your area. Yes, it is illegal to possess a Red-tailed hawk or almost any other wild bird without the appropriate permits. The Migratory Bird and Treaty Act protects ALL migratory birds.
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