A Cooper’s Hawk that was rescued from a Virginia Tech building was released back into the wild Monday after it made a full recovery.
The hawk somehow got inside the Alphin Stuart Livestock Arena on Tuesday and flew into a window several times trying to escape. It ended up getting a concussion after the impact and had some blood in its throat.
The hawk was rescued by a wildlife conservation student, Haley Olsen-Hodges, who also works at the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center, which is where she brought the hawk to heal.
Olsen-Hodges evaluated the hawk and made sure it didn’t have any internal injuries. After a few days of rest, she brought the hawk back to the arena and set it free.
“This was a really lucky patient. We do see a lot more severe cases of window strikes, but this bird can count its blessings, for sure," Olsen-Hodges said.
She added that this successful recovery is a reminder that everyone should be concerned about bird populations and conservation because North America has lost about 30% of its bird population in the last 50 years.