Downtown Rescue
Hawk injured in Elkins is released
Photos courtesy of Keri Lewis Jo Santiago releases Henry Rex Davis, a rescued hawk back into the wild at the Elkins Railyard Depot. The bird’s release came after it was treated for injuries at the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia in Morgantown. Julie Civiello, who found the injured hawk, looks on as it takes flight.
Jo Santiago from the U.S. Forest Service International Programs prepares Henry Rex Davis, a rescued Hawk, to be released back into the wild at the Elkins Railyard Depot.
Photos courtesy of Keri Lewis Jo Santiago releases Henry Rex Davis, a rescued hawk back into the wild at the Elkins Railyard Depot. The bird’s release came after it was treated for injuries at the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia in Morgantown. Julie Civiello, who found the injured hawk, looks on as it takes flight.
Jo Santiago from the U.S. Forest Service International Programs prepares Henry Rex Davis, a rescued Hawk, to be released back into the wild at the Elkins Railyard Depot.
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ELKINS -- Several good samaritans helped rescue a Cooper's Hawk that became injured in downtown Elkins on a recent afternoon.
Upon returning from her lunch break to her job at Davis Trust Company in late February, Julie Civiello noticed a bird lying in the road while parking her vehicle behind the facility.
"When I parked my car I walked up on it and realized it was a hawk," Civiello told The Inter-Mountain this week. "It was then I realized it was hurt, because it would let me get a couple feet from it and not fly away. It would just kind of hop a little bit trying to stay away from me."
Civiello said she then went inside her workplace and summoned several co-workers to give her a hand.
"I went into the office and got one of my co-workers to come out and check on it with me," said Civiello, who has been with DTC for 27 years. "We went outside and were able to get him out of the alley behind the building so that he wouldn't get hit by a car."
Civiello said she remembered seeing Jo Santiago work with birds at a demonstration at a local schools, so she tracked down Santiago's contact information and give her a call.
Santiago works for the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and has helped rescue hundreds of birds during her 30 years on the job.
"I called Jo and she told us to stay with the bird because if we didn't, it would take off and we'd never find it," Civiello said. "So we stayed with the bird and Jo met us down here."
Santiago said corralling the bird was easier said than done once she arrived on the scene.
"Although he couldn't fly, he had no problems with running," Santiago told The Inter-Mountain. "Myself and the several people from Davis Trust were having a tough time catching him, so a couple guys from Sweco Furniture came over and helped us finally track him down."
Once surrounded, Santiago threw a towel over the bird and then put it into a box for the next step, which was a transport to the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia in Morgantown.
"After I get the bird gathered up and put in a box, I call Dr. Jesse Fallon at the ACCA and tell him the species and what I'm seeing," Santiago said. "I'm kind of like the triage, the first responder for birds of prey. But I take all of the birds I rescue to Dr. Fallon right away. They do a full work up to make sure everything is covered. They do remarkable work there."
The ACCA, which is a nonprofit that rescued 520 birds of 65 different species last year alone, diagnosed the hawk with a mild edema in its right eye and a fractured coracoid, which is a bone in the chest area.
The hawk, which was named Henry Rex Davis by the workers at DTC, suffered the injury by either being hit by a car or flying into a window while chasing another bird., she said
Henry went to the ACCA on Feb. 23 and was released back into the wild at the Elkins Train Depot on March 8.
Three employees from Davis Trust Company -- Civiello, Hoy Ferguson and Greg Morgan --were on hand when Santiago set the hawk free.
"It is incredible when we release a bird back into the wild," Santiago said. "It's like a part of you goes with that wild bird -- it's really an incredible experience. I'm always so glad when the rescuers, like the ones at Davis Trust, get that experience. People never forget it."
Civiello agreed she will always remember seeing the bird fly away.
"We were all there when we released it back into the wild and it was really neat watching him take off," she said. "When he took off he was kind of flying a little low, but Jo said that's what they do and that it was a good flight. He sailed out of there and went off into some trees."
Santiago said when she takes part in a rescue it's not just the birds she is helping.
"What some people miss about bird rescues is that it's as much about helping people as it is about helping the birds in need," she noted. "Because people are making a call and wanting to do something to help, but they really feel powerless. They are wanting to do something positive in this world and it's very important to support that. So when I respond to a rescue, I'm responding not only to a bird in need but a human being in need."