Severe damage

On Friday I drove to Riverton to pick up an injured Red-tailed Hawk. The vets at The Stock Doc outside of town received the bird from just down the road. They x-rayed him and found a fractured radius and ulna in his left wing. There were also pellets in his body.

I took him into my vet the next day for follow up x-rays and found even more damage. The total number of pellets is seven, one shattered the left radius, one fractured the left ulna in two places with some damage to his wrist joint. A third fractured his right tibia. Even with all that the bird had a good attitude.

Unfortunately, because of the extreme damage to the radius it was not repairable. His wing would never be strong enough for him to fly again. It was with a very sad heart I made the decision to euthanize him. The information where he was shot was reported to the USFWS offices in Lander and here in Cody. A few years ago I got another redtail from next door to the vets office who had also been shot. He did not survive his injuries.

One other addition to his body is a federal band. The information on when and where he was banded is kept at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. I went on their website and filled out the forms but amazingly he was banded some time ago and they've changed the words printed on it. Because of that I still haven't found out how old he is. I guessed him at around ten but will have to wait for the labs response.