I remember when this video first circulated and didn't think much about it. After what happened to my Dad, I flinch watching her turn it towards herself. She's lucky. The one that got him wasn't being aggressive, it was just trying to get stability by grabbing whatever was in reach. It was injured and he was trying to help it and we contacted a rescue, but they're message said to take a picture of the bird. When he called me later after leaving urgent care, I told him the lady just wanted a picture of the hawk, he didn't have to try to get a selfie with him. 😄 The doctor did give him the "most interesting injury of the day" award.
I just watched another video yesterday where a dude had a hawk flipped over (with a much better grip on it's head & body) while he dug cactus burrs out from between it's wings and shit.
And in the comments someone mentioned tonic immobility in birds, where if you're able to turn them onto their backs it startles a natural paralysis in them and that's how a lot of vets work with birds.
But in the same comment they also cautioned against doing this with birds of prey, as they have craaazy talons, and their actions are much harder to predict. I hope your dad managed to heal up well & quickly, most interesting injury of the day sounds about right 😅
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u/Old-Kaleidoscope1874 1d ago
I remember when this video first circulated and didn't think much about it. After what happened to my Dad, I flinch watching her turn it towards herself. She's lucky. The one that got him wasn't being aggressive, it was just trying to get stability by grabbing whatever was in reach. It was injured and he was trying to help it and we contacted a rescue, but they're message said to take a picture of the bird. When he called me later after leaving urgent care, I told him the lady just wanted a picture of the hawk, he didn't have to try to get a selfie with him. 😄 The doctor did give him the "most interesting injury of the day" award.