Red-Tailed Hawk Gets Wings And Tail Stuck In Glue Trap
The Cape Wildlife Center, a local wildlife rescue center and hospital, is once again urging the community to spread the word about the dangers of glue traps.
The Cape Wildlife Center, a local wildlife rescue center and hospital, is once again urging the community to spread the word about the dangers of glue traps. As has happened many times in the past, the center recently received a patient who suffered at the metaphorical hands of a glue trap. This time it was a red-tailed hawk, who presumably got caught in the trap while going after a mouse or other small rodent. Once stuck, the hawk quickly found himself in a life-or-death situation.
Thankfully for the Hawk, a Good Samaritan contacted the Rockland Animal Control immediately after finding him stuck in the trap. The bird was rushed to the Cape Wildlife Center's veterinary team, where it was found both his wings as well as tail feathers were entangled in the glue paper.
Since damaged feathers are essentially useless to birds, affecting their ability to fly and thermoregulate, the veterinary team needed to be extremely careful when unsticking the feathers. In order to do so in a way that guaranteed they don't shred or break, the team decided to use mineral oil.
While the oil did an excellent job unsticking the feathers from the trap, it did create a new problem. Now the Hawk was a greasy in need of a bath. While bathing an already aggravated hawk is certainly no easy thing, the wildlife center staff as well as some students were able to work together to get the job done.
"This incident serves as a powerful reminder of how dangerous glue traps can be—not just for pests, but for wild animals as well. If you find yourself dealing with pest issues, please consider more humane alternatives. Please help us share this message with as many people as you can. The lives of creatures like this hawk depend on it." - Cape Wildlife Center
A Little More About The Cape Wildlife Center
The Birdsey Cape Wildlife Center is a program of the New England Wildlife Centers. They run two non-profit wildlife veterinary hospitals and education centers located in Barnstable and Weymouth and work to provide veterinary and rehabilitative care to sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife.
If you would like to assist them in their noble goal of helping in-need wildlife, you can find information about volunteering here.
You can also provide support by donating. More information on donating can be found here.
