Thank You Volunteers
Blue Mountain Wildlife benefits each and every day from the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers. This past week volunteers Nanette, Alisha, Denise, Lisa, Ailene, Kenny and Janie were on call to transport injured birds found in the Tri-Cities area (and beyond). In addition, Kenny and Janie spent several hours at the Pendleton Center smoothing out the ditch to the new building. It is now ready for plumbing and wiring to be installed. Thank You everyone!
Thank You Financial Supporters
Thank You to the many BMW members and new friends who have made donations to help repair the collapsed Scavenger Pen. The new frame should arrive by the middle of April. That will allow plenty of time to disassemble the damaged structure.
Two More Gunshot Raptors
Volunteers Kenny and Janie helped transport two raptors to Pendleton on Saturday. One was a Merlin that had been taken to the Prosser Animal Hospital in Prosser, WA. The falcon’s left shoulder and humerus had been shattered by a projectile. The damage was not repairable and the bird was humanely euthanized.
When they stopped in Prosser for the Merlin, Kenny and Janie were on their way back from Mabton, WA where they had captured a Red-tailed Hawk found on the ground, unable to fly. The hawk had many broken feathers on his left wing.
A radiograph clarified the situation. It is unlikely that the projectile visible in the radiograph below caused both the elbow and feather damage. There must have been at least one additional projectile. We can conclude that the projectile is lead because of its deformed shape. Hopefully the injury to the elbow is superficial and the hawk will be releasable. Before then he will have to go through a molt and replace the broken feathers.
Also visible in the radiograph is a healed femur fracture in the hawk’s left leg. The hawk had managed to recover from a broken leg, before he was shot. His left leg is significantly shorter than his right leg, but the left foot is fully functional. There is some atrophy of muscle in the left leg which probably have occurred while the fracture was healing and the hawk was not able to use the leg. One thing’s for sure, this is one tough hawk.
Hunting Lead-Free
The article below was published in Columbia Insight, an online, independent, environmental news publication. Click on the photo to read the article. Then please share with all the hunters you know!
