Post by Weasel on Oct 25, 2004 9:41:39 GMT -5
Well,
It was a sad week for a few local falconers I am friends with.
Now, before I say what happened, these two guys are VERY good falconers and take exeptional care of their birds.
On Thursday of last week I received a call from a falconer called....."Joe".....He had just brought his bird to the vet since it was shedding weight at an alarming rate and acting a bit lethargic. It all started three days earlier when his bird caught it's first bunny this season. He cropped up his bird and went home. The next day, it was back down at weight. He wasn't sure it he gave it enough so he fed up the bird again. Next day it was the same thing....So he went to the vet in the morning and dropped off his bird so they could monitor it. About four hours later the vet called and said the bird took a turn for the worse and is now on oxygen. Prognosis is guarded(means not good in vet terms). later that night, it passed away. The vet did a necropsy and found only one thing out of the ordinary, bright red blood in the lungs. The vet said that the most common cause of this is Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Now, knowing Joe as I do, I will have to safely say that unless it was some freak thing, he would not put his bird near anything that has carbon monoxide. He does have a brand new Dodge truck, so he is going to check the monoxide levels inside the cab. The vet sent away samples to check for WNV and a few others as he is still not sure.
The next tragic incident of the weekend took place on Saturday. Another falconer that has two Harris's hawks decided to take his 1X intermewed bird out for it's first flight of the season. He went to his bunny field and turned him loose onto the T perch. He chased several cotton rats and one ran under a large sheet of styrofoam. The falconer ran over and kicked the foam away only to uncover a massive ground hive of bees. He was immediatly attacked by them and he ran to get away from them. He was still being attacked at 80 yards away. several minutes later he went back and found his bird laying down near the hive it's eyes had completely swelled shut and it could no longer stand up. he picek up the bird and hauled ass home. He stuffed an antihistamine down it's throat but it was too late. The bird gasped it's last breath minues later. The falconer counted two dozen stingers around the birds eyes......
It was a sad week for a few local falconers I am friends with.
Now, before I say what happened, these two guys are VERY good falconers and take exeptional care of their birds.
On Thursday of last week I received a call from a falconer called....."Joe".....He had just brought his bird to the vet since it was shedding weight at an alarming rate and acting a bit lethargic. It all started three days earlier when his bird caught it's first bunny this season. He cropped up his bird and went home. The next day, it was back down at weight. He wasn't sure it he gave it enough so he fed up the bird again. Next day it was the same thing....So he went to the vet in the morning and dropped off his bird so they could monitor it. About four hours later the vet called and said the bird took a turn for the worse and is now on oxygen. Prognosis is guarded(means not good in vet terms). later that night, it passed away. The vet did a necropsy and found only one thing out of the ordinary, bright red blood in the lungs. The vet said that the most common cause of this is Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Now, knowing Joe as I do, I will have to safely say that unless it was some freak thing, he would not put his bird near anything that has carbon monoxide. He does have a brand new Dodge truck, so he is going to check the monoxide levels inside the cab. The vet sent away samples to check for WNV and a few others as he is still not sure.
The next tragic incident of the weekend took place on Saturday. Another falconer that has two Harris's hawks decided to take his 1X intermewed bird out for it's first flight of the season. He went to his bunny field and turned him loose onto the T perch. He chased several cotton rats and one ran under a large sheet of styrofoam. The falconer ran over and kicked the foam away only to uncover a massive ground hive of bees. He was immediatly attacked by them and he ran to get away from them. He was still being attacked at 80 yards away. several minutes later he went back and found his bird laying down near the hive it's eyes had completely swelled shut and it could no longer stand up. he picek up the bird and hauled ass home. He stuffed an antihistamine down it's throat but it was too late. The bird gasped it's last breath minues later. The falconer counted two dozen stingers around the birds eyes......