Euthanasia NOT for this young hawk!

An important reminder sent by "Lynnprints" (GalleryPaseo/Lynn Adams):

Last week Camarillo Wildlife Rehab received a call from the North Central animal shelter about a young hawk with a "dangling leg". The hawk was thought to need to be euthanized but the officer in charge (Carlos Escobosa) wanted to call and explain the injury just in case there was something that could be done. It was hard to asses the injury over the phone so thought taking the bird in would be best as if it needed euthanasia, we could do that. Pat Ott offered to take the bird directly to me as it obviously needed immediate help.

When I received the bird it appeared that she had break mid shaft. It appeared to be a clean break so I decide to wrap the leg and send her into our wildlife Vet in the morning for further eval. The Vet later confirmed that she had a tibi-tarsal break and performed surgery to put the leg back in place. The young red-tail has an external fixation holding the leg in place which will be removed in 3 weeks. She will under go therapy for her leg after the pins are removed and will get a second chance to meet the skies sometime in late August.

The reason for this e-mail is to reach the shelters' medical staff to let them know, even when things seem un-repairable, they are often repairable. As wildlife rehabilitators, it is our job to take in "orphaned and injured" wildlife. If the animals need to be euthanized, we can determine that once in our care. Thank you Carlos, for offering her a second chance.

Brenda
Camarillo Wildlife Rehab