One quiet evening, a man was walking his dog when something unusual caught his eye — a small figure, huddled on his neighbor’s front stoop. As he moved closer, he realized it wasn’t a stray cat or dog, but a red-tailed hawk, grounded and vulnerable.
Alarm bells immediately rang in his mind. Hawks are fiercely independent creatures, usually quick to flee from humans. If this one wasn’t flying away, something was seriously wrong.
Thinking fast, the man gently wrapped the bird in his jacket, cradling him with care, and rushed him to the New England Wildlife Centers (NEWC) for help.
"When he arrived, I could see his wing was swollen, but there were no visible injuries," shared Priya Patel, wildlife medical director at NEWC. "That’s when I began to suspect rodenticide poisoning."
Rodenticide — a silent, deadly threat.
When birds of prey like red-tailed hawks eat rodents that have ingested poison, they too suffer devastating consequences. Their blood loses its ability to clot, and without immediate treatment, many don’t survive.
Testing confirmed Patel’s fears: the hawk’s blood showed signs of severe poisoning.
Without wasting a moment, the team at NEWC started the life-saving treatment — a careful balance of vitamin K, fluids, and pain medication to reverse the toxin’s grip.
Sadly, this hawk is far from Patel’s first patient poisoned by rodenticides. And as pest control chemicals grow ever stronger, recovery for affected animals becomes a longer and harder battle.
“We've had cases take nearly a year to heal," Patel explained.
But amidst the concern, there is hope.
Even though his journey has just begun, this resilient hawk is already showing signs of improvement. Patel and her team will continue caring for him, tracking his recovery step by step, until the day he’s strong enough to soar back into the wild.
His second chance at life is coming — thanks to a kind stranger, a quick rescue, and a team who refuses to give up on the wild.
Patel also urges everyone to think twice about how they manage pests:
"Seal entry points. Secure food sources. Use humane traps instead of poison. Every small choice can save a life like his."
For this lucky hawk, the sky isn’t lost — it’s simply waiting.
