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| Rehabitat founder Wendy Looker, right, holds Bob, a red-tailed hawk wearing a hood, as she enters the examining room Thursday morning at Boiling Springs Animal Hospital. Chad Eyler, a Pennsylvania wildlife conservation officer, assists with handling of the injured bird. (Wally Shank/The Sentinel) |
Red-Tailed Hawk Rescue
White feathers flecked with a rich brown diamond pattern glow under a surgery lamp as a scalpel prods flesh pierced by a 18-inch arrow.
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"Yes, you're a lucky bird,"
coos veterinarian Kathy Purcell, a bit of white down clinging to a lock of her hair as she
leans over the anesthetized red-tailed hawk.
An aluminum crossbow bolt is embedded above the hawk's thigh muscle. Entry and exit wounds
are about an inch apart.
"It went through very superficial layers of musculature," Purcell says.
Raptor rehabilitator Wendy Looker of Dillsburg, who had brought the bird to Boiling
Springs Animal Hospital, had feared the wounds were much worse when the hawk was trapped
two hours earlier Thursday morning in York County.
Wildlife Conservation Officer Chad Eyler also stands by the operating table, eager to get
his carefully gloved hands on the incriminating arrow.
He's also concerned about the bird's condition. He had tried to trap it for three days
after some workers first spotted it Saturday on a security camera tape.
Good health will help
All agree the bird was in good health before the shooting, which will help its recovery.
"He's been eating. I saw him nail something last night," says Eyler, who with
Looker tried several different traps over three days to capture "Bob."
The raptor was christened with the name of falconer Bob Leonard of Mt. Joy, who brought
the trap that finally worked.
Purcell asks an assistant for bolt cutters as barks and whines drift into the room.
Other patients have arrived.
A door opens and a technician leads a black dog with a plastic cone around its neck to the
front desk.
Eyler mans the bolt cutters - which Purcell keeps handy for snapping through orthopedic
pins - and makes off with half the arrow.
The officer sets it up on a nearby table with an evidence number and gets out his camera,
still wearing bright purple gloves that had been donated to Rehabitat, Looker's nonprofit
organization.
Eyler says a police lab will easily remove the shooter's fingerprints with a solution of
Super Glue. "If he's ever had a felony or misdemeanor, we'll have his prints on
file," the officer says.
Purcell is focused with the other half of the arrow, snipping flesh from around the
wounds, scraping away scabs and gently twisting the shaft in preparation for pulling it
out by the fletches.
Loss of blood a concern
"The biggest thing is going to be blood loss when you pull the arrow," Purcell
says.
"Anyone with an arrow in them is going to be fine as long as they're walking around.
But when you pull it out, you disturb the clot, pull all that loose, and you end up dying
right there."
Purcell asks for sterile gauze, "stop-bleed powder" and a laser.
"I'm getting feathers everywhere," the veterinarian says as she plucks the area
around the wounds.
Looker laughs nervously as she holds the raptor's head and one claw.
In a nearby cage, Frederika, a black cat, watches and listens as an IV drips fluid into
her foreleg.
A monitor unevenly beeps out the bird's oxygen level and 200-beat-per minute heart rate.
Another assistant steps in to ask if a client may bring "Holly" over in the next
10 minutes.
Without looking up, Purcell calmly answers, "Yes, she can drop her off."
"Get the laser. Turn it up to about five," Purcell instructs an aide. "And
you'll want to get me some sterile lube."
The arrow slides out soundlessly.
"Get me a new blade before we flush this out," Purcell says, examining the
wounds for infection and checking to see if bleeding calls for use of the laser.
The hawk gets an intravenous injection of fluids, then a towel to dry and warm it as it
comes out from under the anesthesia.
The hood over its eyes keeps it calm, says Looker as she scoops up the bird, towel and
all, and cradles it to her chest.
Hawks are 'tough'
"These guys are incredibly tough and amazing birds," says Purcell, whose animal
clinic is registered as a wildlife rehabilitator. Bob joined several baby birds and
opossums already under Purcell's care at the clinic on Park Drive in South Middleton
Township.
"There, big guy," the veterinarian adds, as she lets Looker adjust the hawk's
hood. "I'm sure your mom knows how to do that better than I do."
Looker already is talking about the therapy the bird will need before it can be released
to its former habitat.
But first it must recover from shock, the trauma of human handling, surgery and any
infection that might develop.
"If he gets out by the end of the summer, I'd be pleased," Looker says. If he is
not ready by then, she plans to keep him over the winter.
"We're lucky he survived getting here. We hope to continue being lucky," she
adds.
The rehabilitator also hopes that Bob's plight will help other raptors.
Rehabitat will accept donations to pay for Bob's medical expenses and buy traps for
wildlife conservation officers.
Rehabitat gets frequent calls from area warehouses to trap birds that have taken up
residence in the rafters, Looker says.
"We could have gotten him sooner" with better traps, she says.
A pigeon and a gerbil were used as bait, but neither was hurt, Looker says.
"The game commission now has a pet gerbil," she says with a laugh.
Tax-deductible donations may be mailed to: Rehabitat, P.O. Box 81, Dillsburg, PA 17019.
On the Net Updates on Bob's condition are planned on the rehabilitator's website:
www.rehabitat.org
