Twice-Caught

On March 11th, WES received a call about a hawk caught on razor-wire fencing at Couch Distributing in Watsonville, CA. We were told it was snagged by a blue chord attached to leather jesses on its legs. This was obviously a bird that someone had tethered - perhaps a falconer's bird.

Fearing the hawk would suffer severe injuries from the barbs, Fleet Manager Jim Griffin, braved the razor-wire, and freed the bird before we arrived. It flew off with its tethers still attached.

On March 18th, one week later, WES received a call reporting a hawk caught on a utility pole, about a mile from the distribution center. The reporting party, Rosendo, described it being caught by a blue chord that was tangled on an antenna about 30' up the pole.


WES' Rebecca Dmytryk alerted PG&E of the emergency before responding on scene.

It wasn't long before Electrical Troubleman with PG&E, Bill Kelly, arrived with a bucket truck, and helped Dmytryk reach the bird. Check out the video below.

Once the hungry bird was secured in a large holding cage at WES headquarters and given a meal, Dmytryk made some calls to try and track down the bird's handler. Through various channels, the falconer was tracked, and reunited with his bird the next day.

Many, many thanks to Rosendo for alerting WES of the bird in distress and for filming the rescue (Great job!), and to Bill Kelly with PG&E who made it possible to rescue the bird!

WES is a 100% volunteer-run charity, dependent on donations to run its 24/7 emergency response operations. Go HERE to make a contribution, or HERE to sponsor the team for a day, a week, or longer! Thank you!