Some things never change: RTHA 17-021
Four Red-tailed Hawks have been admitted in 2017. Two were shot. Three had measurable blood lead levels. Last week it was a hawk with two broken legs and a broken wing. This week the injuries are reversed, two broken wings and a broken leg.
The hawk was shot with steel rather than lead ammunition. Steel is much harder than lead. It does not deform or fragment when it passes through the body. We were able to remove the pellet visible in the radiograph below. The pellets that fractured the left wing and right leg passed through the bird.
17-021 had also been exposed to ingested lead. Her blood lead level is 13.0 micrograms/deciliter.
With both wings bandaged and the right leg splinted, the hawk hasn’t figured out how to stand up yet.
