10/24/2026
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk release! He didn't fly high until later, but he did fly away fast! lol
Just a point of interest, our goal is to rehab raptors and waterfowl and return them to where they came from to rejoin their families whenever possible. In order to ensure the best release back to their home, our practice is to ask the finder who brought the bird to us if they want to be the person to release them back. Most people are VERY interested in helping.
Our philosophy, in addition to returning the animal to its mate and its territory, is to also reward the finders who brought them all the way to us for their effort of getting care for the animal to us in the first place. The extra care given by the finders allows us to have them involved at the end. I believe we are the only facility in the state that works this hard at making sure the birds are released at the same spot as found (when reasonable) and involving the finders to do so.
We can't be everywhere. We can't take care of the animals and also offer pickup service. So, we GREATLY appreciate the people who take time out of their day for an activity that wasn't even on their list just to make sure the animal got help. We thank all of the people who go the extra mile (LITERALLY) to get the animals to us so we can do our thing.
Sidenote: Not all animals can be returned to their original location. A few reasons include: animals raised together that will later be released together....we will NOT separate babies that have grown up together, nor will we separate adults that have bonded during rehab. Sometimes the locations caused the problem. And sometimes animals were passed from person to person and no one even knows the original location....things like this.
Here is what our finder, transporter, and releaser said about his experience with us:
"This experience was very positive from start to finish and we are very appreciative of this organization. Just a quick replay. We found the hawk in our backyard unable to fly or defend itself. We called three organizations asking for assistance on what could be done. Your organization was the only one to return the call and give us direction on what to do. And most importantly agreed to accept the bird since it needed some rehab time.
PAWS kept the hawk for 50 days and called us back, wanting to know if we would enjoy releasing the hawk. It was the first time we had the opportunity to release wildlife back into the wild, and it was a time to remember. Just from our perspective, PAWS focus was to take care of the bird. I am sure there is a lot that makes this all happen and needs effort and support but at all times the focus was on getting the hawk better.
Again, we are very appreciative that PAWS exist and enjoyed meeting and talking to everyone throughout this event.
Sincerely,
Jeanne and Walter"
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