Help! There's a raptor in my garage with a broken wing! No vet til Mon.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Going for mice shortly.

Poor thing is scared to death.

Any advice?

[justiceischeap]

1. If you have a cage/crate

Take a blanket or sheet and gently grab the raptor then place it in the cage. Then place the cage someplace very quiet.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. He's going to have to exist until Monday afternoon....

I'm going to build a travel crate for him/her that has to be a tight fit because otherwise, injuries can occur if he panics...

My garage is quiet and away from my dog and the raptor seems reasonably calm until I try to examine him.

Jeez, I hate this. I feel so helpless.

[justiceischeap]

10. Where do you live?

You should definitely be able to find a wildlife rehabilitator in your area by calling your local wildlife/game warden people. You may also look in your local phonebook for an emergency vet and they can tell you about wildlife rehabs in your area.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

20. Found one 60 miles away that won't be in until Mon... 'Til then,

It's up to me.

[beam me up scottie]

30. I put the hawk I rescued in a plastic pet carrier.

And covered it with a blanket.
Might be cheaper, easier and quicker to buy one of those than to build one.

[skooooo]

2. There ought to be emergency vet services...

...available to you somehow! Of course, it's expensive.

[Ladyhawk]

18. Emergency vets can usually get in touch with wildlife rehab. n/t

[NMDemDist2]

3. you might get more informed info from the pets group Tom

here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=243

or the birder's group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=294

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. Thanks, I didn't even know those existed.

[beam me up scottie]

4. Call your Game Warden for

the number to your nearest wildlife rehabilitator.
Some of them specialize in raptors.

Oh, and thank you for caring enough to help.

on edit: wear thick gloves, ideally several pairs.
I rescued an unconscious red tail hawk and his claws still managed to get through the two pairs of work gloves I was wearing.

[htuttle]

5. Keep it dark and quiet

Put some food out if you have anything appropriate, and leave it alone.

We have an 24hr emergency animal hospital here for cases like that. It's expensive, but they treat wild animals for free (of course, they don't end up coming home with you after they are better). There might be an emergency vet clinic around you, too. (don't know whether you've already checked on this, so I mention it).

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. The Wildlife rescue people here suggested getting a couple of mice...

Holding it by the tail and letting the Raptor have at it.
(yike!)

[htuttle]

LOL! Did they have any suggestions as to how you should 'get' mice?

Gotta cat? Time to get some mice-catching lessons, I suppose.

[jmowreader]

38. Petsmart sells them

The one in town sells "feeder mice" for people with snakes; those would work.

[Ladyhawk]

14. Ditto: dark, warm, quiet, water, food...leave it alone. :) n/t

[shockingelk]

6. How To Locate a Wildlife Rehabilitator:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. I have one close by, but she won't be there until Monday.

Thanks!

[Ladyhawk]

12. See if there is an emergency vet on call.

Even my backward county has an emergency vet on call during the weekend who can get in touch with the wildlife rehabilitator. In the meantime, try to keep stress to a minimum. Stress is the biggest killer of injured wild animals. If at all possible, keep the animal in a warm, dark place away from activity and noises until it calms down. Offer water first, then a small amount of food.

Also, keep in mind that it's illegal in most states to even get near a raptor, so don't advertise what you're doing. :)

[patdem]

13. I am sorry..I can only imagine the 'Raptors' of Jurassic Park..I am not

aware of the real life raptors. I cannot imagine a Raptor of Jurassic Park being in your garage...or else you would NOT be posting..but you would be dinner! Sorry, like I said.

[Ladyhawk]

15. Raptors are birds of prey. n/t

[JHB]

26. A Hawk (or something like one)

"raptor" just means "bird of prey". Dinosaur "raptors" got the name because of their birdlike bone structure.

Tom has a hawk or some other big bird with a curved beak and sharp pointy talons on its feet in his garage.

[patdem]

29. Thanks to both of you, because I thought a 'raptor' was a specific

type of bird...it is a generic bird of prey...with specific features. I did not know that. Now I do because of brilliant DUers! Thanks!

[Carni]

40. I had the same thought lol eom

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Contact the local pet store.

Often pet stores have contacts that we don't have access to, including emergency resources.

[Ladyhawk]

19. Good idea...also animal control, humane society, game warden, etc. n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

22. Tried them all... The only ones with the possible outcome that I

and the Raptor share is the Wildlife Rescue folks who have given me a Raptor specialist's name who won't be available until Monday.

I guess I'll try to keep her happy until then.

[shireen]

17. what's your location? If it's Maryland, PM me. n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

23. Northern Alabama... At least an hour away from you.

Thanks though.

[theHandpuppet]

31. Here you go -- complete list for Alabama wildlife rescuers

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm

Hope this helps!

[omega minimo]

21. Wildlife Care-- excellent info, links and ASSISTANCE!

http://www.wildlifecare.org/index.html


Thanks fer caring. :hug:


Also try the Audubon Society

[Ladyhawk]

24. There's some good advice here about how to get in touch with the right

folks, and what to do if you can't.

Thanks for caring about the poor feathered one. Remember: warmth and quiet are important. :)

[beam me up scottie]

25. Did you try all of these:

http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/wildlife/rehabilitators/alabama-rehabilitators.html

[Shine]

27. That happened to us last year, with a kestrel (sparrow hawk)

It had been chasing a sparrow...who, sadly, ended up flying through the garage and into the house, killing itself accidentally against the sliding glass door. However, the kestrel chasing didn't come all the way through and so it got caught in the garage and was in there for almost 24 hours. We couldn't get it to fly low enough to get out the open garage door, it was soooo frustrating! We tried everything we could think of. We even used the poor dead little body of the sparrow to attempt to lure it down lower from the garage rafters. Nothing worked, and in the end, we called up Native Animal Rescue and the lady who showed up did more in 10 minutes with her long pole and net than we'd been able to do in all that time. She caught it with the net and released it outside immediately. It flew away, unharmed. I was very impressed with their totally volunteer-based operation.

Since the little sparrow had died, I was glad there was a happy end to the story and the kestrel got away.

Good luck with your bird situation! Hope it all works out. :hi:

~Shine

[warrior1]

28. I don't see any wings

[wovenpaint]

32. Just went thru this , myself

not a RAPTOR, tho!!!
Anyway, as others have said, call emergency vet in area as they can get you a wildlife rehabiliator's info quickly.
In the meantime, rest is the best thing. A box that fits but isn't too big is the best-put in a towel and put the bird in a darkened place-away from pet and human noise.
The bird is stressed from the injury and more stressed from contact with you. Unless the bird is crying for food, I wouldn't worry too much about feeding. (Food was my first thought also but realized that "de-stressing" was way more beneficial in the short run).
Good luck and keep us posted. Sending you both good thoughts....

[dogonarug]

33. Bird will be in shock

And likely won't eat. If left alone long enough, the bird will regain it's fighting spirit...A hawks talons are it's major weapon, a talon wound will almost always end up infected so be careful.
An alternative to live mice is beefheart(from a butcher)cut up into small chunks. Birds of prey are pretty tough, it will be OK till Monday if it is only a broken wing. Don't be suprised if it spits up a pellet...it's how they rid themselves of bones,fur,etc of their eaten prey. Good luck!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

34. He (or she) is still doing well. I set up a corningware casserole dish

as a watering hole and it's being used.

The Raptor is too stressed to eat at this point and I have surrendered my garage to the bird at this point.

[Lisa]

36. if it's drinking on its own, that's a good sign

I used to work at a raptor rehab place (University of Guelph Wild Bird Clinic). Raptors can actually last awhile without food ... we even had ones delivered which had gone a couple of days, or more, without water (which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- trying to force water into them can be fatal!).

Normally they would be eating small furry or feathered things with all their innards (the internal organs, even the viscera, provide most of the nutrients) -- but since most people don't have a freezer full of dead rodents (unless you're weirder than I imagined!), one can leave out some chicken as a substitute. Heart and liver (usually they include these in the giblet package), and some of the small bones (e.g. part of a chicken breast, ribcage and all). Some of the staff told me that they'd used fur clipped from their dogs and cats (not flea-sprayed) and in one guy's case, his own beard (!) scattered over top, to provide "roughage" for the bird. Not many people have owl pellets with their own hair in them, in a jar on their desks!

Good luck! Sounds like you've done exactly the right things.

If the bird needs to be caught, one can do this using a large towel (throwing it over the bird, pinning its wings to its body, and making sure you've got a grip on the talons). I eventually got used to doing this without gloves. As other posters have mentioned, the larger hawks and owls (great horned, redtails, etc.) can put their claws through all but the heaviest welding gauntlets -- so one would need multiple layers, but that can cut down on agility somewhat. The specialist you called will likely have the right equipment, and can probably see to that ....

In lieu of cat carriers, one of the other facilities used to send us birds in cardboard boxes (sometimes they were padded with large amounts of finely-shredded newspaper, if the bird was injured and they didn't want it to bounce around inside). I remember digging and digging in one large box, and finally extracting a furious screech owl (the size of a pop can).

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

37. Thanks, Lisa! He's eaten one mouse so far and seems to be

doing better than he was yesterday.

I used to train parrots and have great respect for the power of talons and have had to grimace as a Blu and Gold Macaw tried to grind my hand or arm for a while.

I bought a good pair of heavy rawhide gloves which I believe will allow me to transport him into and out of a box for travel.

But, if he is even better tomorrow morning, I may consider leaving him the garage untiil he can fly.

[Lisa]

39. how's his wing hanging?

If there's a visible droop, it might be possible to guess what's wrong, even without restraining him and feeling the bone.

A "fingerbone" fracture ("wrist" or lower) may heal up by itself. (Raptor bones mend faster than ours, so this can happen in a couple of weeks.)

A fracture between the "wrist" and the "elbow" of the ring will probably require splinting. (The bird will be able to fly all right even if the radius bone isn't precisely aligned. We had one bird, a shorteared owl, whose radius was completely toast but the ulna was strong enough that she was able to compensate.)

A fracture above the "elbow" is trickier. If it's a clean break and not smashed, the muscles are still strong enough to pull the ends of the bone apart and even drive them past each other. Vets who are in the know about these things will use a plastic pin to set the bone properly. Those who don't ... well, we had a lot of cases where well-intentioned people had tried to use the metal pins and plates that were developed for cats and dogs with broken limbs. The problem is, the bones of birds are so different from mammals that the pin can damage the bones even further ... the break may not ever heal properly, and besides the metal will throw off the bird's balance so much that it will never fly again. This is the kind of thing which might need specialized attention, like at a veterinary school with an avian (or at least an exotic animal) specialization.

We had a beautiful turkey vulture at the clinic, whose wing was completely crippled by one of these metal plates. He used to walk around after me when I was tidying up, and beg for food. If we'd gotten to him before they did the surgery, he likely would have been able to fly.


If you've worked with large parrots -- you already know the most important stuff about bird handling. (Raptors don't tend to bite as much as some parrots, so that's one less thing to worry about!) Sounds like you have the situation well in hand.

p.s. another thing to look for is the condition of the mutes (droppings) and the castings (pellets). If the bird's producing daily pellets, and the dropping is white (rather than yellow or green) and with a well-defined separation between the white part and the actual pool ... that would suggest that the digestive system is okay, and he's getting enough nutrients.

If you actually do catch him for transport -- try feeling his breastbone. If the keel seems to be really sharp, that's a sign of malnutrition. A bird that's been eating well will have some fat and tissue padding out the bone.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

42. Wow. Great information, Lisa. There is a visible droop to the wing,

the droppings seem to be white, I haven't seen any castings, but they could be out there somewhere, it's a pretty good sized garage and I'm trying to respect his privacy and don't want him to get acclimated to people.

[Ksec]

35. Do whatever you have to do to keep it calm

Stress will kill it.

This reminds me of last year when I found a dead mother opposum that had been hit by a train. My daughter said the Possums belly was moving and I then pulled seven live baby possums from her pouch. We raised them for about 10 months. Possums have bad dispositions and no amount of hand taming helps cure their biting and hissing. They liked my twelve tr old daughter so she could handle them and they thought she was Mom. I ended up giving them away to a lady who takes care of wild animals.

[never_get_over_it]

41. So is it

an owl, hawk, eagle, falcon - I'm just curious what kind of raptor

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

43. You made me look once again... He's a Peregrine Falcon

[never_get_over_it]

44. They are so beautiful

how is it working out - and please if you sitll have him around becareful of those talons!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

45. UPDATE W/Pics!

Got the raptor to a vet who has informed me that someone had shot the bird and that the radial ulna had been broken. There's some infection that's being treated and she will put a wire in to help the wing heal.

It's a felony to shoot one of these birds and I was told that Game and wildlife will be calling to see if I can aid them in finding out who may have done the shooting.

I hope they catch the stupid bastards.

[annabanana]

46. oooo thank you!! What a gorgeous bird..

Will it heal well enough to release back into the wild? I hope they can catch the stinker that shot him/her..

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

47. If we can beat the infection, the bird should be released back into the

wild in just a few weeks.

Damn, I'm worrying over this bird like I would a dear pet.