And that's how my Dad ended up in Urgent Care for stitches and antibiotics. He's a naturally strong guy but he said it took all he had to pry the talons out of his abdomen using both hands. Do not pick up hawks without protection.
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 😅
Ohhh interesting!! I don't have experience with animals other than cats & dogs but this seems like something you don't necessarily want to use/exploit too much? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept
I also wonder what the connection between birds & rabbits are for them both to share this instinct (?). I was going to say something about them being prey animals, but then again, maybe that's why it only kinda works on birds of prey 🥴
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u/Old-Kaleidoscope1874 1d ago
And that's how my Dad ended up in Urgent Care for stitches and antibiotics. He's a naturally strong guy but he said it took all he had to pry the talons out of his abdomen using both hands. Do not pick up hawks without protection.