The Illinois Raptor Center Newsletter Archive

by Jacques Nuzzo, program director

published: Spring 1999

An anonymous call brought bad news. A hawk had been accidentally shot, and according to the caller, it was still alive.

Calls like this one must be handled carefully, or the caller may hang up without giving us enough information to find the animal in distress. Jane persuaded the person to come out to the center and discuss the situation. The caller agreed. Soon, she was able  to take the person for a walk on our property and hear the whole story.

My first priority was to learn what type of hawk was injured.Inside, I wanted to scream and yell at the person. Why would anyone shoot a hawk? I wanted to chew him out for waiting so long to come to us.

These things, however, are better left to law enforcement officials who are trained to handle such situations. Since it was migration time, there was no way of knowing what type of hawk it could be.The Red-tailed hawk is the most common hawk seen in these parts,and is frequently misidentified. However, if my suspicions were correct, this wasn't a common hawk. After a long talk, we managed to get the names of the people involved in the hawk's shooting and the bird's location. Immediately, we contacted the conservation police officer for our area and relayed the information to him.A few hours later the CPO pulled up in his Jeep, a deep frown was on his face.

I will never forget the scene. I asked the CPO where the bird was. He said it was lying down in the back seat. I opened the door to the Jeep and looked down. There, in front of me, was the very first Red-shouldered hawk I have ever seen. Its leg was completely blown off. It's dark eyes stared blankly at me. It was in pain and humiliated at the prospect of being unable to stand and defend itself.

The hawk was immediately put to sleep. An infection had spread throughout its body. No hawk could survive in the wild, or even in captivity, with only one leg. Everyone at the center was depressed.We moped around for the rest of the day. Later, we were able to learn more.

Two young men were poaching raccoons at night by shining a spot-light into the trees from their pick-up truck. These actions are highly illegal, not to mention, thoughtless and careless.Unfortunately, the boys misidentified the hawk as a raccoon. While most people can tell the difference between a hawk and a raccoon,the hawk wasn't seen clearly by the light of the flashlight. To make matters worse, the Red-shouldered hawk is an Illinois state endangered species. Some are seen during migration, but few in this part of the state. Very few nesting birds remain here.

Both boys face fines in excess of $2,000. They will have to appear before a judge for their crimes. However, the story has a positive side to it. 1. The hawk's suffering has ceased.2. The person who approached us about the shooting did so because he had seen one of our educational programs. They are having an affect. 3. Believe it or not, we have two new youth volunteers . The young men who shot the hawk want to help,not deny what they did. They want to make it right by learning all they can about birds of prey. Hopefully, they will want to try to save them and not destroy them.

This incident reaffirms my belief that education may be the most important function of our organization. We must show people firsthand and face-to-face, the hawks, falcons, eagles and owls that live here. We must etch these faces in their minds. We must remind them of the conservation laws and the consequences of breaking those laws.
We must do this for the sake of people and wildlife alike.

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