Yesterday we released a merlin that we have been rehabbing for several weeks. Watching her fly off was pure joy. Shortly after, we let a ring-billed gull go. He had come in with a bad wing. The last couple of days he was telling me off each time I fed him. The last time he pecked at me three times. That indicated to me he was ready to leave. The animals always tell me when they want to be back in the wild, and I listen to them. I was thrilled that he flew off.
Yesterday a young man called me and related he had rescued a young hawk he found sitting in the middle of the highway with its wings spread out. “Be careful,” I warned. “His talons are very sharp.”
“I’ve got him wrapped in my shirt,” he replied. “Can I bring him to you?”
That comment prompted me to wonder and worry, What type of shirt? Had he taken off his shirt? If so, was his chest bare? The hawk’s talons could hurt a bare chest badly.
“Are you near a woods?” I asked.
“Yes, there is one right by the road,” he answered.
“Take him as far from the road as you can get at the edge of the woods,” I instructed.
“What about his parents?” he inquired.
“Oh, they’re watching you,” I advised.
“I don’t see them,” he responded.
“You won’t,” I noted.
After following my instructions, he watched the hawk hop up to a branch about fifteen feet high. When he returned to look, the hawk was gone.
I love happy endings. They are a big reason I devote my life to the animals.
Thank you for caring about the critters,
Patti