University program helps injured raptors

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- One hundred injured birds -- many of them hawks, owls and even bald eagles -- were brought last year to the Raptor Rehabilitation Project at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine.

More than half of them were euthanized because they were too sick or injured to be returned to the wild.

But 28 were restored to health by a group of vets, volunteers and students and set free.

The latest group -- one red-tailed hawk and three barred owls -- were released in June.

"Wild animals are just that," said Amber Edwards, a spokeswoman for the project. "They are always wild, no matter how well they work for you. They have the ability to revert back to the wild.

"It might take a couple of days to get their bearings, but they do real well at it," Edwards added. "I have no problem in thinking they will be able to hunt on their own."

The project was formed in 1972 to rehabilitate injured eagles. Many of the birds brought to the project have been hit by cars, shot by hunters or injured flying into power lines. The hawk that was released is typical case.

Brought in last July after it was hit by a car near Rolla, the bird had a broken left humeral fracture -- essentially a broken wing -- that was surgically repaired by an orthopedic veterinarian in the college's teaching hospital. After the operation, the hawk went through therapy to get back into flying and hunting form.

Kathryn Kettenbach, vice president of the project, said the bird exercised in a flight cage and then practiced flying between perches about 25 yards apart. For that exercise, the bird is attached by thin leather bindings to a wire suspended between the two perches. When the bird demonstrates it can hunt on its own by snatching live mice, it is ready to be set free.

Kettenbach said the hawk was about 1 1/2 years old and had yet to display a full red tail. The 28 birds released within the past year were 12 barred owls, four red-tailed hawks, four American kestrels, three Cooper's hawks, four eastern screech owls and one great horned owl.

"All these birds are protected," Kettenbach said. "It is illegal to own any part of them and illegal to shoot them."

Kettenbach said the project had two bald eagles that had been found shot -- one near Jefferson City and the other at Lake of the Ozarks.

Some birds brought to the project that cannot be released to the wild are kept for educational purposes or placed in other facilities. The project's current population is 17 birds undergoing rehabilitation, seven in the hospital and eight in residence that will never be released because they cannot survive in the wild.

As for a red-tailed hawk released recently, the odds of survival are against him. He'll have to compete for territory in which to hunt.

"Everyone has their own territory," said Mike Cooke, vice president of the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis County. "A new one coming in has to compete."

This time of year, there is plenty of food around.

"But there are no guarantees," Cooke added. "Even if things go real well, with young birds of prey, 60 to 70 percent of those birds will not get through the winter. That's the way nature works, if they weren't good enough or they were unlucky."