Times that try rehabbers' souls

Last week was bookended by horrific situations that resulted in reports being filed with both Georgia DNR and US Fish & Wildlife.

Monday LWR received a red-tailed hawk via a volunteer transporter. This hawk had been taken in by a mammal rehabber in another county, who is NOT federally licensed for birds and has NO clue what she’s doing with them and who has been reported to DNR several times for taking and keeping federally protected birds without the proper permits. She then took this bird to a vet in that county who, while also a licensed rehabber, is also NOT licensed for or competent to deal with birds. She has a documented history of incompetence with raptors, in fact.

In the case of the red tail LWR eventually received, this incompetent vet, with NO x-rays or proper physical exam, told the mammal rehabber that the bird was “fine” and all she needed to do was “fatten it up” and let it go. Mammal rehabber decided, after the bird wouldn’t fly for her, that it needed to be in a flight pen first, but did she contact one of THREE licensed raptor rehabbers near her? Nope; that would mean admitting she’d had the bird illegally for nearly two weeks.

Instead, this poor bird spent almost a week with yet another mammal rehabber in another county, who is also not federally licensed and has openly bragged in the past that she’s not going to “get in trouble” for taking MBTA-protected birds and outright lied to a member of the public last year, telling them she had “all the permits” so she could take an injured raptor from them. This was reported as well, and where that poor bird ended up is anybody’s guess. Probably with the incompetent vet for non-treatment until it died. The current bird was sent by Mammal Rehabber 1 to Mammal Rehabber 2 because Mammal Rehabber 2 has a flight pen—now, I ask you, if you are NOT licensed for birds, why do you need a flight pen???

So all told, this particular hawk spent THREE WEEKS circulating among non-federally licensed individuals who knew they were in violation of both state and federal law AND incompetent to deal with the red tail but put boosting their own petty egos over the welfare of the bird.
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Upon taking the hawk to my vets within 90 minutes of intake, x-rays revealed fractures of the radius and ulna in the left wing. These fractures would have been cause for euthanasia three weeks earlier had the bird been in competent hands then. As it is, these three incompetents played “pass the raptor” for three weeks while he suffered from the pain of those fractures and then, when they tired of “playing raptor rehabber”, he was sent to LWR to end his suffering.  And the illegal activities of these people who should know better were immediately reported to the state and feds.

​Adding to the general crappiness of the week, late Friday night, LWR received a call from a concerned family whose sons had found an injured great horned owl grounded in the woods behind their house. Upon intake that night, it was clear the left leg was broken but, of course, required x-rays to determine the exact nature of the break. The left foot was unresponsive to stimuli, which didn’t bode well. The left pupil was extremely dilated and unresponsive. The wings seemed uninjured but breaks that aren’t badly displaced can sometimes be hard to feel. 

​Saturday morning, I took the owl to Smalley’s Animal Hospital, where x-rays revealed not only a leg fracture but also two fractures in the left wing—and lead pellets all through the body and head, including the left eye. Vet Richie Hatcher and I speculate someone shot the bird while it was in flight. Given the number of lead pellets, the impossibility of removing them all, the fractures in both left leg and wing, and the damage to the eye, we opted for euthanasia. We also noticed as the bird was going down that the inside of his beak was white—not pale, bone-white. This indicated to us that there was also internal bleeding, so even if we’d opted to attempt treatment, he would’ve bled out shortly.

​The couple whose sons who found the owl are outraged that anyone would shoot “their” owl, as they had been enjoying seeing it come up in the trees near their house for the past couple of months. They said they’d heard no gunshots in the past few days—nothing unusual. To their credit, the family who found the owl put their concern into further action by spending Saturday afternoon tramping through the woods looking for the nest, but they were unable to locate it.
 
This incident was also reported to the state and feds. The problem, however, is that without an actual eyewitness to the shooting, the chance of prosecution is nonexistent. 
 
And putting aside all attempts at professionalism, let me tell you right now that there’s a very special level of hell reserved for cretins like the one(s) who shot this owl—during great horned nesting season, no less, so yeah, there’s another nest of babies who likely won’t make it.
 
Normally I’d hop on a soapbox and rant a little more about these situations, but honestly, I’m still too infuriated to do more than spew profanity, and I try to keep this site family-friendly. So the bare-bones details will have to do.
 
Thankfully, there is good news from last week: the squirrels continue to develop nicely, and the female’s lower incisors came in so she is indeed about 10 days older than the male.

​Even better, the barred owl finally made it into the flight pen. He’s flying beautifully and will be released within the next few days if the weather cooperates.

​Not the best video ever—he popped out of the box like he was rocket-propelled and then just hung there on the side of the flight, glaring at me.
 
If you’ve not participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count yet, you still have today and tomorrow. Details are at http://gbbc.birdcount.org/.
 
And just a final note: next week’s update will be posted late Monday, Feb. 22.