Young man hawk It was found in Arrone, in the province of Terni with Chiari signs of gunshot wounds. He is another victim of poachers.
“The raptor was found on Friday, January 12, but had been on the ground for at least 24 hours,” explains Kodami Michele Capitani the Wildlumbria Wild Animal Recovery Center. The person who called us saw him the night before on the ground with some cats, very brave I would say who tried to capture him. But he didn’t contact us until the next day because the animal was still there. In this regard, it is important to underline that a quick intervention guarantees the animal a much better chance of survival, it is not ideal to let all that time pass.
However, the hawk was acquired by a volunteer zoologist from Wildumbria, Riccardo Matteawho immediately noticed the presence of wounds: «He had blood on the covers and the primary feathers were broken”, explains Capitani.
After recovery, the raptor was taken to a veterinary hospital in Perugia, where doctors performed all the necessary examinations: «The hawk was underweight, but still very energetic and had a good appetite. The presence of the shotgun and the fracture of the right ulna, the long and more robust bone of this wing, is highlighted. The prognosis is monitored, but we are optimistic».
So at the moment it is impossible to know if and when it will be possible to release the hawk back into the wild, but certainly not before a long rehabilitation.
Hawk (Accipiter Gentiles) is a diurnal bird of prey belonging to the Accipitrid family, distributed over much of the Northern Hemisphere, including some arctic regions and the deserts of North Africa. It is the largest species belonging to the genus Accipiter and actually has a wingspan, can reach 115 centimeters.
Unfortunately, it often happens that these great predators become victims of poaching. And unfortunately some of them will not survive the attacks. As unfortunately happened in December to an individual hit by a poacher in the territory of the Lucretili Mountains Regional Natural Park and died during surgery for wing amputation.
From north to south, there is no Italian region that is not exempt crimes against nature: Poachers target small passerines, eagles and other raptors, wolves and bears. Crimes against nature are the fourth most profitable criminal activity in the world after drug trafficking, counterfeiting and arms smuggling: a total of $280 billion a year.