Friday, October 7, 2011

The Scream?




















Well, not really. This is HARVEY, an adult male Red-tailed Hawk found in Riverton with a broken left wing. The top photo shows him with his mouth wide open but he's not saying a thing, he's threatening me. It's a redtail thing. He was originally seen sitting on a fence but wasn't caught until the next day, yesterday. I drove down to Riverton this morning and brought him back for repair surgery. That will take place tomorrow afternoon at Dr. Blessing's here in Cody.

The bottom photo shows just why his wing was fractured. The three pellets you can see caused all the damage. The ulna is in four pieces, the radius in two but they are in pretty good position so they should be fixable and make this bird flighted again. He's in good shape, good weight, and has a good attitude. Fingers crossed that all goes well.

Unfortunately the shooter was never seen so he can't be punished for this very illegal act. Thanks to Dr. Miranda Townsend in Riverton for taking such good care of him overnight. He loved the antelope steak she fed him.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Susan,
    I hope you get this soon. I am in desperate need of some compelling rehab raptor photos. Your photo of Harvey is exactly what I'm looking for. Would I be able use it in an interpretive design at the Palm Beach Zoo to explain why our raptors can't go back into the wild? Please email me at jjordan@palmbeachzoo.org

    Hope to hear from you soon!
    Great photo!!!

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