Revived to Thrive

"Failure to thrive" is a term wildlife rehabilitators use to describe animals who, for any number of reasons, are simply unable to survive in the wild. If the animal is a predator, he might have been orphaned before learning the skills to hunt. Or the animal may have been the runt of the litter or nest, unable to compete with siblings for food. Sometimes, the animal injures himself or happens to eat something toxic, and never recovers to the extent that he can take care of himself.
Fall is the time of year when most of the birds who've failed to thrive arrive at Best Friends' state- and federally-licensed wildlife rehabilitation center. Usually, these are birds who were hatched in the spring, and haven't yet properly learned to fend for themselves. This year, rehabilitator Carmen Smith had an early arrival-a dark-faced red-tailed hawk found just across the Arizona border in the town of Fredonia, not far from the sanctuary in Utah. The hawk was malnourished and severely dehydrated, to the point of absolute passivity, when Carmen and sub-permitee Barbara Weider arrived. Luckily, though, the hawk showed no signs of injury or of being poisoned.

As with all failure-to-thrive cases, Carmen and Barbara hand-fed the hawk until she reached her ideal body weight and made sure her immune system was back in good working order. Once the hawk met those goals, she went to the sanctuary's indoor aviary for some strenuous in-flight exercise to regain her muscle mass and endurance. After a couple of weeks of close monitoring, the hawk proved she had the strength and agility to fend for herself in the wild.

Carmen and Barbara delivered the hawk back to the area where she was found. Wearing thick elbow-length gloves, Carmen gathered the hawk out of the crate and carried her to the middle of a traffic-free dirt road (called, auspiciously enough, Easy Street). She then perched the hawk on her arm, released her hold, and lobbed the bird up into the air. The hawk soared toward the highest tree in the vicinity. When last seen, she was still perched in the tree, getting a renewed lay of the land.

Story by Ted Brewer
Photos by Troy Snow