CHELMSFORD, Mass. (WCVB) – A red-tailed hawk is recovering from its injuries after getting hit by a car in Massachusetts on Thursday.
Photos show the animal lodged in the vehicle’s grill, and it took a team effort to get the bird out.
The rescue was no easy feat, according to the driver.
Judy Harmon was driving her Honda SUV when she heard the collision, but she hoped the bird somehow made a narrow escape.
“I saw his wing come up on the hood I said, ‘Oh my god! He must still be on the car!” Harmon said.
She pulled over at a rest stop and called 911.
“So, I got out I’m looking at him and he’s turning his head looking at me,” she said.
But the responding trooper and animal control officer could not free the hawk.
State police called a local Honda dealership a few miles down the road to see if they could help.
Service director Stan Dekhtyar fortunately had the tools they needed.
“This is a first, definitely,” he said. “We were able to take off top layer some of plastic shrouding above the grill and get the grill tilted forward.”
The bird was freed and taken to Tufts Wildlife Clinic, where veterinarians discovered it had a broken wing and other injuries.
The hawk isn’t ready to be released into the wild yet, and vets will continue treating it over the next few days.
For Harmon, although her car suffered damage, she is just happy the bird survived.
“It broke my grill, and my car is only three months old, so wah wah wah… but the best outcome is the bird lived,” Harmon said.
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